Washington Tuition Waiver for Veterans and National Guard Members

RCW 28B.15.621 lets the governing boards of Washington state universities, regional universities, The Evergreen State College, and the community and technical colleges waive all or a portion of tuition and fees for an eligible veteran or National Guard member. The single most important word in that sentence is may. For veterans this is a discretionary authority granted to institutions, not an entitlement granted to veterans. Each college or university sets up and runs its own program, decides how much to waive, and sets its own limits on how many waivers it grants. Two veterans with identical records at two Washington campuses can get different answers, and both are correct. That is a genuine difference from the dependent waiver in the next entry, where the statute says the boards shall waive. Most summaries of Washington benefits collapse the two into one line and imply an entitlement that does not exist for the veteran's own waiver. The service test (RCW 28B.15.621(8)) is a Washington domiciliary who served on active federal duty in a war or conflict fought on foreign soil or in international waters, or in another location in support of those serving there, and, if discharged, has a qualifying discharge under RCW 73.04.005. Since chapter 146, Laws of 2024 that means an honorable or general under honorable conditions discharge, an other than honorable discharge with VA documentation of monetary benefits, or any characterization where the discharge was solely for sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression; before the act the waiver asked for an honorable discharge. A second, narrower door. Subsection (3) lets the same boards waive tuition for a Washington-domiciled veteran who did not serve on foreign soil or in support of those who did, with no state general fund support behind it, so fewer campuses offer it. The practical advice follows from the structure. Ask the specific institution's veterans office what their waiver program covers and what the limits are before enrolling, and ask early in the year, because a campus operating a capped program can exhaust it. A veteran should generally use federal Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits first where both are available, since the GI Bill carries a housing allowance the waiver does not, and then look to the waiver for what remains.