University of Puget Sound senior Bella Rico received $9,500 from the Washington College Grant her first year. This year, her grant dropped to about $1,500.

Rico is one of 214 UPS undergraduates who rely on Washington state financial aid programs, according to the university. All are receiving less money after the Legislature cut the Washington College Grant for students at private, nonprofit four-year institutions through Senate Bill 5785, enacted in 2025.

The maximum annual grant for private-university students fell from about $9,700 to $6,476 for the 2026-27 school year, according to the Washington Student Achievement Council's award chart. By comparison, a University of Washington student can receive up to $13,203 through the same program.

The cuts hit hard. More than 12,000 students statewide at private universities are projected to be affected, according to state Legislature estimates reported by the Seattle Times.

UPS pledges to cover the gap

Tim Whittum, vice president for enrollment at UPS, said in an Aug. 10 News Tribune report that the university increased institutional financial aid to offset the reductions and will replace lost grant funding for continuing students. UPS also plans to provide similar support to College Bound Scholarship recipients when those cuts take effect in the 2027-28 school year.

"Incoming students have been offered financial aid packages that reflect current state funding levels," Whittum wrote in an email to The News Tribune.

UPS President Isiaah Crawford said in a June statement that the university would reallocate institutional funding and use donor support to fill the gap, calling the reductions an inequitable and unfair barrier for students who chose private, nonprofit schools.

Those 214 students were scheduled to receive more than $1.76 million in combined state grants during the 2025-26 year, the university said.

Students scramble

Rico, the eldest of five children, said she worked with UPS's financial aid office to secure a $5,000 scholarship and took out private loans to cover remaining costs.

Kareiana Taumaletia, a third-year communications student at UPS, said their state aid dropped from the thousands to the hundreds, initially leaving them facing about $20,000 in out-of-pocket tuition.

After filing a special circumstance appeal, Taumaletia's bill was lowered to about $6,000.

"This is a school where I don't see a lot of people that look like me," Taumaletia told The News Tribune. "Those numbers are only going to get smaller if we don't encourage people to continue to pursue higher education."

About 67% of Washington College Grant recipients statewide are students of color, 65% are women and 62% are first-generation college students, according to the Independent Colleges of Washington.

Restoration effort stalled

Sen. T'wina Nobles (D-Fircrest), a UPS alumna who chose the school because no public four-year options existed near her Tacoma-area home at the time, introduced Senate Bill 5828 in the 2026 session to restore the funding. The bill passed the Senate 41-7 on Feb. 18 but did not receive a House floor vote before the short session ended in March.

The 2026 supplemental budget also failed to restore the cuts.

Nobles, who chairs the Senate Higher Education & Workforce Development Committee, said she will continue working to protect access to financial aid. The next legislative opportunity to restore funding is the 2027 session.

UPS students with questions about their financial aid can contact the Office of Student Financial Services at pugetsound.edu/sfs.