WWIN is just beginning to make its latest round of grant awards, which is incredibly exciting! The vast majority of women receiving grants will be attending Washington’s community colleges and state universities this upcoming academic year. And so we were thrilled to hear the recent news about tuition decreases for students at those colleges and universities! Students will see cuts of between 5% and 20% in tuition costs over the next two years.
This is a great step towards making college more affordable, particularly for students like the women WWIN serves. But even with the tuition decreases there’s still a huge gap to fill. Our new grantees who will be attending community colleges and public universities this upcoming academic year need an average of over $24,000 to cover their costs of attendance. And while many of them are able to take advantage of other private or public funding to cover some of that expense, after all of that aid is taken into account, our grantees still need a whopping $13,040 on average to cover their costs next year. And while a 5-20% tuition decrease will help reduce that amount, a huge need will still remain.
WWIN is so pleased to be able to step in and provide up to $5,000 in funding to help fill that gap for our new grantees. Women often tell us that the WWIN grant was the single financial resource that allowed them to remain in school and complete the academic year. But there’s still such a significant need that we can’t fill, and too many women–all poised for success–whom we have to turn away.
Our donors’ generosity is amazing and allows us to do so much; with more resources, we could help our grantees and additional women get even closer to accomplishing their goals and dreams!