News Release: Reports on job training and financial aid on HECB’s Jan. 26 meeting agenda

OLYMPIA – At its January meeting, the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) will hear a presentation on a new joint report that analyzes and projects the state’s future workforce needs, especially in areas of high employer demand, and on fields in which the need for specific skill sets is particularly acute.

The report, “A Skilled and Education Workforce,” is the third in a series developed over the last six years by the HECB, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC), and the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board.

The joint report is required (under RCW 28B.76.230) to assess “the number of forecasted net job openings at each level of higher education and training and the number of credentials needed to match the forecast of net job openings.”

The report underscores the continuing need for increased degree production in the areas of computer science, the health professions, and engineering and for higher levels of associate, bachelor’s, and advanced degree production in general.  It also highlights a successful seven-year statewide effort to increase nursing degree production.

Also on the agenda is an annual report on the status of student financial aid programs. Titled “Access, Affordability, and Achievement,” the report examines overall trends in student financial aid, provides information on specific program areas, and focuses on important issues at the campuses.

Co-presenters for this report will be Rachelle Sharpe, HECB director of student financial assistance, and Carla Idohl-Corwin, Dean of Student Financial Services at South Puget Sound Community College.

In the afternoon portion of the meeting, Jan Ignash, HECB deputy director for policy, planning and research, will give a progress report on work to develop a Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) being funded by a 2009 federal grant. A key component of that project is a complete database of approved programs of study and authorized degree programs. Staff also will present a summary of degree program approval activities in the past year.

Briefing materials for the meeting are available at www.hecb.wa.gov/AboutTheHECB/MeetingMaterials.

News Release: GET director elected to national post

OLYMPIA – Betty Lochner, director of Washington’s Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) Program, has been elected by her peers to serve as Vice Chair of the College Savings Plans Network (CSPN). She will serve alongside Iowa State Treasurer Michael L. Fitzgerald, Chair, and is expected to succeed Fitzgerald when he vacates the top position.

CSPN, a non-profit association that is the leading national advocate for 529 college savings plans, provides the only non-commercial online resource for families to help them determine the best way to save for college. Affiliated with the National Association of State Treasurers (NAST), CSPN brings together state administrators of 529 savings and prepaid plans, as well as their private sector partners. The organization is dedicated to framing national policy affecting 529 plans. For more information on CSPN, visit www.collegesavings.org

GET is one of several state and federal programs designed to help Washington citizens gain affordable access to higher education. Administered by the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB), GET is a key partner in the state’s effort to raise educational attainment, said Don Bennett, HECB executive director.  The HECB also administers all financial aid programs in Washington.

Lochner has served as Communications Chair for CSPN for the past two years and assumed the Vice Chair position on January 1, 2012. Lochner has been director of the GET Program since 2000. Under her leadership, the state’s prepaid tuition program has grown from just under 8,000 accounts to over 137,000 accounts and more than $1.7 billion in assets. GET has been one of the fastest growing prepaid tuition plans in the country for each of the past six years.

“Families across the country are saving with 529 plans. They’re saving so they can send their kids to college without the burden of student loan debt,” said Lochner. “As tuition costs soar, it’s even more important to take advantage of these plans and start saving for college.  It can make all the difference both in a child’s life and in a family’s ability to help their child have a better future.”

Career pathways legislation among higher education bills introduced as 2012 session gets under way

Bills introduced during the first week of the 2012 Legislative Session focus to a great extent on finding ways to increase the number of students participating and succeeding in areas of study that meet critical workforce needs — especially in the areas of computer and information science, engineering, and the health professions.

A new Career Pathways Act calls for a comprehensive statewide information effort by education institutions and state agencies to inform students, beginning in middle school, of the wide range of career preparation options available that lead to middle-income jobs.

These include skilled trades, pre-apprenticeships, apprenticeships, industry certifications, and workforce training programs, as well as one-year certificates, associate, bachelor’s and advanced degrees.

A Washington Works bill is designed to create a reward system for improvements in completions at all levels of education with a particular focus on improvement in specific high demand occupations. 

Following is a summary of the key pieces of legislation introduced so far.

1.    SB 6029 amends Launch Year Act to require notification of three-year baccalaureate programs.

2.    HB 2209 amends RCW 28A.150.260, the K-12 Act covering contracted alternative learning experiences.  Running Start is excluded as a contracted alternative learning experience. State assessment testing is mandated for full- and part-time students. Contracted alternative learning experience programs are exempted from a proposed 15 percent budget cut for 2012-13.

3.    HB 2254 – Continues the Passport to College program beyond the six-year pilot phase. The bill allows foster youth who are younger than 18 to receive the Passport scholarship. In addition, all foster youth would be automatically enrolled by DSHS as College Bound Scholarship participants. This means that Foster Youth in grades 9-12 would be allowed to participate in the College Bound program. OSPI is required to identify six to 10 school districts with the highest number of dependent students – districts in which certified staff navigators can be placed to focus on improving school graduation.  

4.    HB 2155/SB 5982 – Creates a Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation under the authority of the UW and WSU to offer all levels of programs to advance research on new technologies that might result in innovative products for the aerospace industry. The bill calls for the enhancement of the engineering departments at UW and WSU — and any other institutions that want to participate in industry-focused research. The center would seek additional private, federal and non-profit grant support and would sponsor at least one annual symposium on aerospace research in Washington. An advisory board composed of five institutional and industry representatives would be appointed by the governor.

5.    HB 2156/SB 5976 – Creates a Center for Aerospace and Advanced Materials Manufacturing under the authority of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) with responsibility for data collection and analysis. The Center would be required to conduct skill gap analysis with EDRC. An advisory committee composed mostly of industry representatives would be developed.  The Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board (WTECB) would be required to evaluate programs annually, including employment outcome analysis. The WTECB also would evaluate, every four years, the Center’s net outcomes and cost benefit.

6.    HB 2170 – Creates a Career Pathways Act to build and reinforce awareness among middle and high school students and their parents about the availability of postsecondary pathways to non-baccalaureate career opportunities and about the remuneration and job opportunities available in those career pathways.

The act would require that materials and communications used by state education agencies include information about multiple career pathways and emphasize the value of each pathway, including employment prospects and earnings.  

The Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board (WTECB) would be required to identify and publicize online tools that students and parents could use to explore multiple career pathways, as well as to create an annual list of promising careers.

The act also would establish Career Exploration Partnership Zones to increase connections and access to internship, employment, and training opportunities and facilitate information exchange among schools, businesses, labor communities, apprenticeship councils and higher education.

7.    HB 2265 – Creates Washington Works to provide a reward system for improvements in completions at all levels of education with a particular focus on improvement in specific high demand occupations.  

The bill lists occupations with critical skill shortages as aerospace, biology and biomedical sciences, computer and information sciences, engineering and engineering technologies, health professions and clinical sciences, mathematics and statistics, and physical sciences and science technologies. It stipulates this list should be revised annually to include areas of additional shortage.

Success would be measured by assigning points to each educational entity for increasing student success, numbers of graduates, and numbers of graduates from disadvantaged populations.   Institutions meeting or exceeding numeric goals would be eligible for rewards from a Washington Works fund established to promote improvement.

Article discusses UW program that helps high school students prepare for college

The Dream Project at the University of Washington is the subject of an article in today’s Seattle Times. The Dream Project is a five-year-old mentoring program that utilizes UW students to help low-income first-generation high school students prepare for college or other life options after high school. Last year, about 500 UW students participated, reaching approximately 1,300 seniors in high-poverty Seattle-area high schools, according to the Times article by higher education reporter Katherine Long.

In January 2011, the Dream Project received a $972,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Foundation to expand its geographical reach into all South King County school districts. 

According to a 2011 UW news release announcing the grant, in five years the Dream Project had grown from a program of 30 UW undergraduates mentoring 90 high school students at three high schools to 300 UW undergraduates mentoring 500 high school students at 15 schools in seven school districts.

The high school students who receive mentoring aren’t the only persons to benefit from the program.  According to the UW release, "For the undergraduates involved, the Dream Project’s service-learning model connects and animates classroom-based theory and community-based practice, building undergraduate knowledge, experience and insight. These types of opportunities are essential to a contemporary university education and are often credited with helping students persist through college and earn their degrees."