Section 28B.145.040. Opportunity scholarship program.

(1) The opportunity scholarship program is established.

(2) The purpose of this scholarship program is to provide scholarships that will help low and middle-income Washington residents earn baccalaureate degrees in high employer demand and other programs of study and encourage them to remain in the state to work. The program must be designed for both students starting at two-year institutions of higher education and intending to transfer to four-year institutions of higher education and students starting at four-year institutions of higher education.

(3) The opportunity scholarship board shall determine which programs of study, including but not limited to high employer demand programs, are eligible for purposes of the opportunity scholarship.

(4) The source of funds for the program shall be a combination of private grants and contributions and state matching funds. A state match may be earned under this section for private contributions made on or after June 6, 2011. A state match, up to a maximum of fifty million dollars annually, shall be provided beginning the later of January 1, 2014, or January 1st next following the end of the fiscal year in which collections of state retail sales and use tax, state business and occupation tax, and state public utility tax exceed, by ten percent the amounts collected from these tax resources in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2008, as determined by the department of revenue.

[ 2011 1st sp.s. c 13 § 5.]

2011 1st sp.s. c 13 § 5.