Students before sequesters: Western

The automatic federal budget cuts set to take effect on Friday will not be allowed to block any student from attending Western Washington University in Bellingham, WWU President Bruce Shepard announced Tuesday.

Western will “draw upon institutional reserves to provide funding if “any awards of federal financial aid” to its students “be reduced as a result of federal sequestration,” WWU Senior Vice President Eileen Coughlin said in a letter to students.

A fact sheet, released Monday by the White House, estimated that 440 fewer low-income students in Washington would get aid to help finance the cost of college.