The Long Range Projection is derived from the K-12 Basic Education forecast and Office of Financial Management's (OFM) state population forecast. It includes K-12, private and home-based school enrollment, summer school enrollment, Running Start, and UW Transition Program enrollment components for a period beyond the current standard budget forecast. The projection is expressed in terms of full time equivalents (FTE) and headcounts (HC): one FTE is the equivalent of one student attending school full-time.

The Long Range Projection is based on participation rates which are then applied to the OFM population forecast.