This bill amends and reenacts existing higher education financial aid statutes. It designates a state financial aid account as a nontreasury account held by the state treasurer for specified statewide student aid programs, reenacts and amends the Washington college grant statute, and amends chapter-wide definitions for the passport to careers program. The changes modify how funds are held and spent, change program eligibility rules, and require the Office of Student Financial Assistance to implement and administer the Washington college grant program and adopt rules. Under the changes, specified programs' funds (including the Washington college grant, state work-study, Washington scholars, Washington award for vocational excellence, the educational opportunity grant, and the passport to careers program) must be deposited in the state financial aid account. Moneys in the account do not lapse, may be expended only for appropriated purposes, and disbursements from the account are declared exempt from the appropriations and allotment provisions of chapter 43.88 RCW. Expenditures from the account may be authorized only by the director of the Office of Student Financial Assistance or the director’s designee, and the legislature may direct transfers from the account to the state general fund during the 2025–2027 biennium. The bill also states, historically, that expenditures from the account were used for passport to careers scholarships in 2019–2021 and expresses legislative intent to continue that policy. The Washington college grant provisions are reenacted and amended to require legislative appropriation and allocation based on estimated eligible participants, and to require the office to begin awarding grants in academic year 2020–21. Eligibility rules are expanded in stages: beginning 2025–26 to include Washington high school students in grades 10–12 who are in assistance units receiving Washington basic food or Washington food assistance, and beginning 2026–27 to include students who are eligible for the passport to careers program as provided in RCW 28B.117.030(3). The bill preserves limits such as program eligibility not extending beyond six years or 150% of published program length; minimum enrollment thresholds (three quarter credits or equivalent or enrollment in a registered apprenticeship); residency, annual application, and no prior baccalaureate degree requirements; prorated awards for part-time students; institutional refund and return procedures for unused portions; and a rule allowing institutional aid administrators to determine continued eligibility when family income increases by no more than 3%. The amended passport to careers chapter definitions list terms such as apprentice, apprenticeship, cost of attendance, financial need, various foster care definitions, homeless/unaccompanied, preapprenticeship, and related terms. The extracted material does not include the text of RCW 28B.117.030(3) (the cross-reference used to define passport to careers eligibility), the full prior statutory text for comparison where editorial markings appear, or details on how automatic income-eligibility for passport to careers participants is operationalized, so those specifics are unclear from the provided excerpts.

If enacted, the bill concentrates multiple student aid programs into a single nontreasury state financial aid account held by the state treasurer and makes that account a steady source of money that does not lapse at fiscal year end. The office of student financial assistance’s director would have sole authority to spend from that account, and those disbursements would bypass the normal appropriation and allotment process, which likely speeds payouts and reduces routine legislative oversight; however the legislature keeps a one-time option to order transfers out of the account to the general fund during the 2025–2027 biennium, creating a potential risk to aid continuity during that window. The practical program effects are increased access to the Washington College Grant over time and likely higher demand and costs: grants were required to start being awarded in 2020–21, eligibility is broadened in 2025–26 to certain high school students in households receiving basic food or food assistance, and broadened again in 2026–27 to include students eligible under the passport to careers rules. The office must implement and administer the expanded program and adopt rules, colleges and apprenticeship programs will face more applications and new eligibility checks (minimum enrollment, prorating for part‑time, income-review rules, refund returns), and more students—especially those in foster care, experiencing homelessness, or in apprenticeship pathways—are likely to gain options for paid training and college. Important details are missing from the provided text about the exact passport-to-careers eligibility rules (RCW 28B.117.030(3)) and some editorial changes, so how automatic income-eligibility and other operational specifics will work remains unclear.