Higher Education Coordinating Board


Limit to Financial Aid.

WashingtonScholarshipCoalition

Washington Scholarship Coalition

Students searching for scholarship funding often have difficulty finding information about the many opportunities available in Washington because there is no central clearinghouse for scholarship information. Scholarship providers face similar challenges reaching students.

To meet growing financial need among Washington residents and increase college accessibility, the Washington Scholarship Coalition is planning to offer a free Web site, and other assistance to enable students and scholarship providers across the state to contact each other.

Students will be able to search and apply for scholarship opportunities specific to their academic interests, college or university, or by other criteria. Providers will benefit from the increased exposure and reduced paperwork.

The coalition is a public/private collaboration with the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB), the Washington Financial Aid Association (WFAA), The Seattle Foundation, NELA, Washington Spark, College Success Foundation, and College Planning Network.

Using private money, the coalition hired williamsworks to conduct a feasibility study for the project in 2006. The second phase of the study calls for development of the clearinghouse, also with private funding. After the new Web site and other services are developed, the HECB will maintain the clearinghouse.

Some unique features of the Clearinghouse:

The Clearinghouse will be primarily Web-based, reducing the need for paper applications and forms.
Services to students will be free. No personal information will be made available to any commercial enterprise.
There will be no advertising on the Web site.
The database will have scholarship opportunities specifically for Washington state students.
The Clearinghouse will encourage the use of a common profile to facilitate individual students to apply for multiple scholarships at one time.
The Clearinghouse will enable donors to reach thousands of students statewide, making it easier for new providers to consider offering scholarships.