The Washington State Need Grant was created to alleviate the costs of higher education for Washington's lowest-income students. In 2013-2014, nearly 74,000 students received the grant, allowing those who would never have considered college to be able to pursue their dreams. 

However, for all these successes, currently 27,000 students who qualify for the grant do not receive it due to lack of funding from the state. To make matters worse, this year the state Senate is considering cutting the State Need Grant by $4 million dollars. This cut would leave 1100 more students without the aid they need to go to college, forcing them to either drop-out or to take on more loans.

College has become unaffordable. As a full-time student, I have worked 40-60 hours every week for my four years at University of Washington Bothell. But even with those hours, I still live at home; I still have no car; I still avoid buying textbooks in favor of finding a free PDF online that's 3 editions too old.

We need to work together as a state to fully fund higher education and to ensure that all of the lowest-income students are receiving the aid they need. 

Sign this petition. Let our state legislators know that we will not stand by as they continue to cut aid to our higher education institutions and to our students.