The decision ends a program implemented not long after WSC’s founding to offer high school-level coursework to teenagers in the era before high schools became commonplace in Washington. The primary non-college program began as the Preparatory School, was retitled the Elementary School in 1905, and later became the Department of Elementary Science. Several other programs offering pre-college level coursework existed side-by-side with their college-level counterparts, including ones in agriculture, artisanship, and business.

Program enrollment slowly decreased as the number of high schools in the state grew (when WSC opened the only high schools that existed were in Seattle, Tacoma, and Spokane). Following a brief increase in enrollment following WW I, enrollment decreased steadily until the program was discontinued after the 1925-26 academic year.