House Bill 1554 amends existing law (RCW 28B.118.010 and 2024 c 323 s 2) governing the Washington college bound scholarship program. The bill leaves program authority with the Office of Student Financial Assistance, requires the office to design the program and align it with the Washington college grant program (chapter 28B.92 RCW) unless otherwise provided, and specifies that an eligible student's right to the scholarship vests on enrollment in the program as of the rules in effect when the student enrolls. The bill makes procedural and eligibility changes: it requires automatic enrollment of eligible students by the office, notification to students and parents/guardians with efforts to obtain acknowledgment, and data sharing by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Department of Children, Youth, and Families on request. Institutions of higher education must award students all needand merit-based aid for which they qualify, and the college bound scholarship is intended to replace unmet need, loans, and, at the student's option, work-study before other grants or scholarships are reduced. The bill sets award-value formulas for public twoand four-year institutions, private four-year institutions, and private vocational schools, keeps tuition units legally owned by the state until redeemed, and provides that unused portions revert to the scholarship account if a recipient terminates enrollment. Eligibility and timing rules are specified or referenced: eligible students include those who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch under stated grade-retention rules, students dependent under chapter 13.34 RCW (including certain adopted youth with negotiated agreements), resident students as defined in RCW 28B.15.012, family income not exceeding 65 percent of the state median at high school graduation, no felony convictions, and other residency-related affidavit requirements for certain students under RCW 28B.15.012(2)(e). Enrollment to use the award must begin no later than the fall term one academic year after high school graduation, and eligibility cannot extend beyond six years or 150 percent of the published program length. The bill also includes dated provisions about 2019-20 eligibility rules and a 2023-24 direct admission C average requirement for first-time postsecondary entrants. The extract appears to be Section 1 of the bill and other sections or prior-law comparisons are not included, so some details and context (including full prior-law text and complete bill language) are missing.

If enacted, eligible low-income and foster or formerly foster students will be signed up for the Washington college bound scholarship automatically and notified, so more students who meet the income, residency, criminal background, grade, and timing rules are likely to actually receive the benefit without having to apply. For students at public twoand four-year colleges the award will cover the tuition-and-fees gap left after other state aid plus a $500 books allowance, and it is designed to replace unmet need and loans (and, if the student chooses, work-study) before other grants are cut; private institutions’ award amounts will be set by a representative public-university average, which could change how much aid students get at private schools. Enrollment deadlines and a six-year/150 percent time limit remain, so students must use the award within those windows. The Office of Student Financial Assistance will take on the added work of designing, automatically enrolling, notifying students, and securing acknowledgements, and it will rely on lists provided by the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Department of Children, Youth, and Families; institutions must change how they package and award other grants to honor the college bound scholarship first. Private and public colleges may see shifts in how much financial aid they pay or how they administer awards, and unused tuition units remain state property and revert to the scholarship account if students stop out. Some implementation details and the full set of definitions referenced are not included in the provided text, so how certain calculations and eligibility nuances work in practice is unclear.