SVC Running Start Program

Posted September 12, 2021 at 5:42 am by

Skag­it Val­ley Col­lege announces a sec­ond-year award of pilot schol­ar­ship pro­gram to help Run­ning Start stu­dents pay for books, sup­plies, and stu­dent fees 

Skag­it Val­ley Col­lege (SVC) is pleased to announce that the Col­lege has been award­ed approx­i­mate­ly $52,000 for a pilot schol­ar­ship pro­gram designed to assist SVC’s Run­ning Start stu­dents by the Wash­ing­ton Stu­dent Achieve­ment Coun­cil (WSAC). 

The SVC Run­ning Start Pilot Schol­ar­ship will sup­port stu­dent suc­cess by cov­er­ing the cost of books, course mate­ri­als, and/or stu­dent fees for eli­gi­ble stu­dents dur­ing the 2021–2022 aca­d­e­m­ic year. If a stu­dent is enrolled in a work­force pro­gram, the schol­ar­ship can also cov­er the cost of tools, lab and course fees, and work clothes. 

The pro­gram is designed to help low-income fam­i­lies and improve access to Run­ning Start. Stu­dents enrolled in eli­gi­ble Run­ning Start cours­es who qual­i­fy for free or reduced lunch, and who have a GPA of 2.0 or high­er, are eli­gi­ble for the scholarship. 

SVC’s award is part of a WSAC Dual Enroll­ment Schol­ar­ship (DES) pilot pro­gram that encour­ages stu­dents to enroll in post-sec­ondary edu­ca­tion and helps reduce the time and cost need­ed to com­plete their degree. 

Run­ning Start is a dual cred­it pro­gram that began in the ear­ly 1990s and pro­vides the oppor­tu­ni­ty for high school juniors and seniors to earn col­lege cred­it while they are in high school, with eli­gi­ble tuition cov­ered by state fund­ing. It allows stu­dents to com­plete their high school diplo­ma, earn an asso­ciate degree, or work toward both simul­ta­ne­ous­ly, prepar­ing them for employ­ment or col­lege transfer. 

“Run­ning Start pro­vides high school stu­dents with an impor­tant path­way to a col­lege edu­ca­tion and fam­i­ly-wage jobs,” said Wash­ing­ton State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Dave Paul, D‑Oak Har­bor, who is also Direc­tor of Com­mu­ni­ty Rela­tions at SVC. “I’m excit­ed that Skag­it Val­ley Col­lege has been award­ed this grant to help stu­dents and their fam­i­lies in our com­mu­ni­ty take advan­tage of this proven and cost-effec­tive program.” 

The DES pro­gram began in 2019, with the pas­sage of House Bill 1973 by the Leg­is­la­ture. It start­ed with the Col­lege in the High School com­po­nent that was imple­ment­ed at Clark Col­lege, East­ern Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty, and What­com Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege. With the pas­sage of Sen­ate Bill 6374 in 2020, the Run­ning Start pilot pro­gram expand­ed to include appren­tice­ship and professional/technical pro­grams. With this expan­sion, Skag­it Val­ley Col­lege, Everett Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege, Green Riv­er Col­lege, High­line Col­lege, and Com­mu­ni­ty Col­leges of Spokane were select­ed to participate. 

It is not too late to enroll in Run­ning Start for fall quar­ter at SVC. Class­es begin Sept. 21 and many cours­es are avail­able in an online for­mat. Online learn­ing tech­nol­o­gy sup­port and resources are avail­able to help stu­dents every step of the way. 

For more infor­ma­tion about Run­ning Start or the pilot schol­ar­ship pro­gram, please vis­it skagit.edu/runningstart. For assis­tance get­ting start­ed, please con­tact outreach@skagit.edu.  

You can support the San Juan Update by doing business with our loyal advertisers, and by making a one-time contribution or a recurring donation.


Categories: Education, Schools

No comments yet. Be the first!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting a comment you grant the San Juan Update a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution. Inappropriate, irrelevant and contentious comments may not be published at an admin's discretion. Your email is used for verification purposes only, it will never be shared.

Receive new post updates: Entries (RSS)
Receive followup comments updates: RSS 2.0