The Seattle Colleges: Bedrock for a resilient community

A message from: The Seattle Colleges Foundation

Community college opens a door for all to many of tomorrow's most stable and essential jobs.
Why it's important: AI is rewriting the future of work, and many entry-level white-collar jobs are disappearing.
- Okay, but: The jobs that Seattle Colleges graduates step into — including nursing, carpentry, early childhood education, public health, electrical work and social services — are both harder to automate and critical to the city's future.
Why now: Seattle faces urgent needs — including for more housing, childcare options, health care providers and climate-ready infrastructure.
- Meeting those needs demands exactly the kind of practical, technical training offered at our city's three community colleges — North, Central and South.
Key numbers: 40% of the city's undergrads attend one of the three Seattle Colleges.
- 45% are students of color, 48% are first-gen college students and many are from low-income and LGBTQ+ communities.
The challenge: Even though most students work and full-time tuition is just $5,000 a year, many students at the Seattle Colleges struggle to afford their education.
- Seattle rents are 30% above the national average.
- Grocery prices are the fourth highest in the country, trailing only Honolulu, San Francisco and New York City.
Here's what else: State funding and philanthropic efforts only go so far in supporting community college students.
- Just 1.5% of higher education philanthropy benefits community colleges.
The solution: The Seattle Colleges Foundation is a non-profit, public 501(c)(3) organization that advances the educational mission of the Colleges.
- Giving to the Foundation supports students with scholarships, emergency needs grants, proven approaches to mentoring and advising and more.
- Plus, a growing number of Seattleites are also making ultra-high-impact gifts by including the Colleges in their estate planning.
The takeaway: Community colleges have never been more relevant amid rising education costs, AI disruption and acute community needs that fuel demand for high-quality, lower-cost, skills-based programs.
- The Wall Street Journal calls Gen Z the "toolbelt generation" — but many will need a boost to join it.
Get involved: Supporting Seattle Colleges financially, either with a here-and-now gift or a planned gift from your estate, is an investment in the diverse skills — and diverse people — who will help our city thrive amid change and challenges.
Learn more about how to make Seattle Colleges part of your estate plan.

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