KENNEWICK — Higher costs to attend classes and the bungled roll out of a new financial aid application aren’t deterring students from attending colleges and universities in Tri-Cities.
In fact, some institutions are seeing record-breaking attendance of freshman this fall.
Washington State University Tri-Cities’ total fall headcount grew 3% this year thanks to a 16% increase in first-year students — the “largest first class in the campus’ history,” according to administrators there.
Its headcount is about 1,500.
Toppenish-based Heritage University, which serves the Tri-Cities on two campuses in Pasco and Kennewick, welcomed its “largest group of new students since 2017” with 350 new students.
Columbia Basin College in Pasco couldn’t report its freshman headcount, but said this month that overall fall enrollment had jumped 10% to an estimated 8,400 students, including apprenticeships.
Running Start enrollment at the community college also increased 17%. That program lets high school-age students take college classes to earn college-level credits.
The universities say they worked aggressively to get new students through the admissions process and enrolled in classes and walked them step-by-step through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
“Our team worked very hard this past year to deliver financial aid information to our new, incoming students as quickly as possible. That hard work helped make enrollment possible for those students,” Jamie Owens, WSU Tri-Cities’ campus director of admissions, said in a statement.
That includes working with local high schools and holding community workshops to tell the public how to finance their education.
Donors to Heritage even went so far as to cover the costs for some financially burdened students to attend, ensuring no one was left behind.
“The dedication of our staff and the generosity of our donors have been nothing short of extraordinary,” said Heritage University President Andrew Sund.
Colleges, universities get proactive
Nearly 15,000 students in the Tri-Cities are expected to attend college-level classes at some point this academic year, most in pursuit of certificates, undergraduate degrees or graduate degrees.
Higher education institutions across the country saw enrollment tank during the COVID pandemic due to a shift to fully remote learning, then hybrid. Workers also took advantage of a hot hiring market in 2021 and 2022, opting to put their pursuits of higher education on hold in favor of a steady paycheck.
Inflation, or the cost of goods and services, peaked in summer 2022 but has since simmered. Plus, more Americans have entered the job market in recent months, resulting in a crowded field for job seekers.
Tri-City administrators also cite a “tailwind” of K-12 enrollment growth and an increase in applications for the sudden bump.
“This continued growth in enrollment highlights our commitment to providing quality education and transforming student lives,” said Cheryl Holden, CBC’s vice president for student services.
Across the country, colleges and universities have been worried that the U.S. Department of Education’s failed roll-out of a better, more efficient FAFSA application would impact fall enrollment this year. It’s the largest change in 40 years to the form that determines student eligibility for aid.
The new form soft-launched at the beginning of 2024, but it’s been fraught with ongoing technical glitches and miss-matched information sharing with the IRS. Students whose parents don’t have a Social Security number have encountered the most problems, Chalkbeat reports.
The Department of Education recently confirmed plans to delay opening the 2025-26 application portal. That means, for the second year in a row, the application will not be available to families and FAFSA experts on Oct. 1.
Washington ranks among the lowest of the 50 U.S. states in FAFSA completion rates. And postsecondary enrollment remains the lowest within the Southeast Washington region.
Elizabeth Burtner, CBC’s assistant vice president for marketing and outreach, says their college has a team of eight financial aid outreach specialists embedded across 20 Tri-Cities area schools.
Those specialists have worked with students, from Prosser to Connell, since they were hired in the 2022-23 school year, to help them make college attendance a reality. The program was established through a pilot in the Legislature.
“We believe that hard work of this team supporting all students and families with financial aid was a huge benefit. We also conducted Getting Started Workshops twice a week all summer to support students and families complete financial aid and enrollment,” Burtner said.
The first day of fall semester at WSU and Heritage University was Aug. 19. CBC began its fall quarter Sept. 16.
The cost to attend college remains high. The annual residential tuition rate for a full-time, undergraduate student is about $11,831 at WSU Tri-Cities and $5,875 at CBC.
That doesn’t include any additional mandatory fees, books and supplies or living expenses, such as rent and food.
