Arguments Advocating for SB 5828 and HB 2567

Gonzaga University Board of Trustees Chair Mike Reilly crafted these arguments advocating support for Washington State Senate Bill 5828 and House Bill 2567. Feel free to copy, paste and modify these as you see fit in written testimony supporting this legislation. Be sure to replace the text in square brackets with your own information.

I am the [YOUR TITLE / AFFILIATION WITH GU] and strongly urge support for HB 2567, “Concerning the Washington College Grant and College Bound scholarship program for students attending private four-year not-for-profit institutions of higher education in Washington.” Here are some basic reasons why the bill should be passed.

1. Passing HB 2567 helps fix an inequitable effect that falls hardest on students from lower-income families, first-generation students, and students of color. A low- or middle-income student receives substantially less state grant support if they enroll at a private, nonprofit university in Washington than if they enroll at a public university, even when their financial need and academic promise are identical. SB 5828 restores a sense of basic fairness by tying maximum awards for private nonprofit students to the actual awards received by students at public research universities and community and technical colleges.

2. Passing HB 2567 would actually SAVE the state more money than it costs the state. When a Washington student enrolls at a private, nonprofit institution and receives a need-based Washington College Grant or College Bound Scholarship, the state bears only the cost of that grant, not the cost of building, maintaining, and operating the campus. Schools like Gonzaga have invested their own resources — endowment income, philanthropy, tuition revenue, and borrowing — to create and maintain facilities, faculty, and programs that serve Washington residents without drawing on state capital budgets. By contrast, when that same student enrolls at a public university, the state provides grant aid (if the student is eligible) AND subsidizes the institution’s operating budget and capital infrastructure through general fund appropriations and state bonds. Every low-income or middle-income student attending a private nonprofit with these grants saves the state relative to educating that same student in the public sector at equivalent quality and completion rates.

3. Passing HB 2567 helps assure capacity for specialty degrees, and avoids the need for further state investment. Washington’s public universities face capacity pressures in many high-demand programs, particularly in STEM and health fields, and in high-growth regions. Expanding brick-and-mortar public capacity to accommodate every student who might otherwise choose a private nonprofit would require substantial new capital investment — classrooms, laboratories, residence halls, faculty, and support services — funded over decades by Washington taxpayers. Gonzaga has invested large amounts of funds to have the capacity to educate students seeking degrees in STEM, health and other high growth areas.

4. Passing HB 2567 helps assure Washington has the teachers, mental health professionals and public service workers we need. Gonzaga, and many private nonprofits play outsized roles in preparing teachers, nurses, mental health professionals, and other public-service workers in high demand across urban, suburban, and rural communities. Supporting low- and middle-income students at these institutions is a direct investment in the workforce pipelines that legislators have championed in education, healthcare, and social services.

5. Supporting HB 2567 matches what we all seek: college access and affordability, and diverse pathways. We need to fix the state aid structure that strands students who choose a nonprofit college in their own state. HB 2567 brings policy into alignment with values by treating eligible students similarly across sectors while preserving public oversight, accountability, and strong state priorities.

Please:

• Vote “yes” on HB 2567 at every stage of the legislative process.
• Oppose amendments that would reintroduce arbitrary caps or reduce award parity for students at private nonprofits.
• Publicly affirm that Washington values all of its students and all of its responsible higher education partners, public and private alike.

[YOUR NAME AND TITLE]