Students urged to leave no stone unturned in hunting for financial aid

Probst notes money help in working toward 21st-century careers

August 31, 2009

CLARK COUNTY – Some of the thump-thump-thumps you hear are the sounds of high-school seniors hitting the books for their final K-12 school year. And those other thump-thump-thumps are parents wracking their brains for strategies to pay the – gulp – tuition bill when their kids start college next year.

State Rep. Tim Probst, D-Vancouver, is emphasizing that young people who plan on going on to postsecondary schooling a year from now (and parents who plan on surviving the financial hit) should always keep an eye on financial assistance for college.

For instance, Probst noted, next year’s college students can save up to $2,500 off on their tuition and related expenses in the American Opportunity Tax Credit.

“The federal government is offering this temporary tax credit for students or parents to claim on their 2010 income-tax return,” he said. “This means that the credit can help pay tuition next year.

“Students who don’t make enough money to file an income-tax return should go ahead and file a return, anyway,” Probst explained, “because they might receive up to $1,000 in credit to help pay their college tuition.”

Students who have a Section 529 college-savings plan can also spend those funds on a computer that is used for college.
Probst, who is vice chair of the House Education Committee and a member of the House Education Appropriations Committee, said that students should talk to their school’s financial-aid counselor for more information. Students, parents, and other interested folks can also click http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=205674,00.html to get more information.

Professionally, Probst is CEO of the Washington Workforce Association – a statewide organization of business, labor, education, nonprofit and government leaders who work to help make sure Washington citizens can step into 21st-century jobs and careers.

“Our state and our citizens need to come to grips with the fact that three in four jobs today demand some kind of education beyond high school,” he said. “It wasn’t that many years ago that about 34 percent of Washington’s labor force worked in manufacturing jobs. But today that number has plunged to about 10 percent.

“Not too many years ago,” Probst pointed out, “you could go from your high-school commencement ceremony on Saturday night to a pretty good factory job of some kind on Monday morning. But in this day and age it’s very crucial that young adults work toward schooling or training after their high-school years to prepare themselves for 21st-century careers.”

In fact, only about a third of today’s high-school graduates actually continue beyond high school. Even more alarming is the fact that in 2006, only 77 percent of the students who had started 9th grade in 2001 graduated.

In the legislative session earlier this year, Probst won legislative and gubernatorial support for the Opportunity Internships program in his successful House Bill 1355, which links high-school students with high-demand careers. He introduced the measure both to decrease the dropout rate and to increase the number of skilled workers in growing fields.

“Opportunity Internships can be life-changing for students,” Probst said. “These internships provide a connection to the real working world, and they help students understand the relevance of their education. Opportunity Internships are a way to re-engage at-risk students while also helping local industries grow.”

The Probst measure:

• Supports local groups that create channels to get students from high school into careers.
•  Offers an internship, a year of financial aid and other opportunities to students completing certain programs.
•  Sends a $2,000 incentive payment to local groups that successfully place a student in a job.

The first-term lawmaker also noted two other programs that can help Washington’s young citizens and their families negotiate financial hurdles for postsecondary schooling.

Running Start allows high-school juniors and seniors to attend college classes tuition-free and earn credits both for high school and for college.

Running Start for the Trades, which as its name suggests is similar to the first program, allows high-school juniors and seniors to take classes that prepare them to enter a full-time apprenticeship upon graduation. They can also enter into a two-year program leading to an apprenticeship.