State higher-education officials warn federal moves could disrupt aid, research and college programs

Officials from Washington’s higher-education system told the House Postsecondary Education & Workforce Committee on March 26 that recent federal actions and personnel reductions at the U.S. Department of Education are creating uncertainty for student aid, research grants and college programs statewide.

Joel Anderson, assistant director of external affairs at the Washington Student Achievement Council, told the committee the federal Title IV programs that supply Pell grants, federal loans and Federal Work-Study support tens of thousands of Washington students and that recent federal changes have already raised processing and program concerns. "Many of the changes we are seeing right now at the federal level are very new, they are ongoing, and admittedly there's a lot of information I don't have right now," Anderson said.

Anderson said data from the 2023–24 academic year show more than 83,000 Washington students received Pell grants totaling almost $390 million, with an average award of about $4,700. He said nearly 79,000 students took out federal loans last year with "a little over $13,000" the average federal loan amount, and that the state has about 790,000 student loan borrowers with nearly $29 billion in outstanding debt. He warned that paused or frozen federal repayment and discharge programs can cascade into broader…