NORFOLK, Va. — A program that helps Virginia Military families pay for college is once again facing a funding challenge. This is a story News 3 has been covering extensively as a political fight continues over what to do about the program.
“I feel like veterans, again, are being put in the middle of a political back and forth," said Kayla Owen.
Watch: Uncertainty looms over bill aimed at helping Va. surviving military spouses
Owen is a military spouse and a leader of a grassroots group fighting to save the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program. News 3 was at the State Capitol in July 2024 when lawmakers voted to repeal changes made to the program earlier in the year, changes the grassroots group was concerned would negatively impact the program.
The changes came because some lawmakers felt the program unfairly pushes Virginia’s colleges and universities to have to raise tuition to offset program costs. Since then, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has proposed using $120 million from surplus money to help fund the program.
But on April 2, Virginia’s House of Delegates decided not to vote on that amendment in the Governor’s proposed budget.
Watch: Gov. Youngkin signs bill repealing VMSDEP changes
"It’s incredibly disappointing to know that legislators from the Governor’s Office to the Senate and the House all made commitments last year that they wanted to make this program sustainable and the program is important to them and they all promised to do so. It appears, at this point, that only part of that trifecta is actually upholding that commitment," Owen said.
Owen is hoping to use the program to help her get a degree, but without the funding that may not be an option. The funding in place for the program as of Thursday for the program was set to run out at the end of the 2025-2026 school year.
“I worry about anybody that’s reliant upon the VMSDEP program beyond the funding that is solidified through the end of the [2025-2026] school year," said Owen.
Watch: Military families worried about changes to state program's education benefits
In his proposed budget, Gov. Youngkin says in part, using the surplus is "a commonsense solution to keep our promise to our military heroes and keep tuition affordable for all other students.”
News 3 reached out to Gov. Youngkin's office for comment. His office's response is as follows:
"The VMSDEP tuition waiver is in place for all eligible survivors and dependents of our military heroes, by law. Our veterans earned this waiver through their courage and sacrifice on behalf of our country, and our colleges and universities must honor it.
“For the first time in the program’s history, the budget signed by the Governor in May included taxpayer dollars to offset the cost of the program to colleges and universities. The Governor is disappointed the House and Senate Democrats rejected his commonsense solution to find an ongoing funding source using non-general fund dollars.”
We also reached out to Virginia House Speaker Del. Don Scott’s office for comment, but as of Thursday, had not gotten a response.
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Owen believes the decision to pass by the amendment is purely political, but regardless she said this fight is not over.
“In a state where you have 700,000 veterans, it seems to me that making veterans a political issue probably isn’t very expedient for either side," said Owens. "We intend to be incredibly proactive and spend much of the summer and fall attempting to avert what was the disaster of last summer.”
