RICHMOND, Va. — With the 2025 General Assembly session underway in Richmond, News 3 is following up on an issue that has been ongoing since the 2024 session.
As of Wednesday, lawmakers were discussing a bill to address some concerns about the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program.
Watch: JLARC presentation latest step in ongoing VMSDEP debate
The program helps qualifying military families pay for college. The bill would create more oversight of the program.
If passed, the Virginia Department of Veterans Services and the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia would be required to create a report each year.
That report would include an estimate of how many eligible people have not enrolled in college and how many have enrolled.
As News 3 has reported, lawmakers made changes to the program last session that angered many military families across the state, including in Hampton Roads.
Supporters of the program have since worked with lawmakers to get the changes repealed. A Senate workgroup, governor’s taskforce, and study were all created to look into the program.
Kayla Owen, one of the people who helped lead the effort to repeal the changes last year, says she wishes more would’ve come from that work.
Watch: Governor's taskforce meets to discuss VMSDEP
“A lot of money was spent on this but we really don’t necessarily have the answers that that money paid for," said Owen. "We will absolutely go into this legislative session paying attention, being in constant contact with our legislative representatives that we’ve been working with on both sides of the aisle and we hope that it comes out with a positive, sustainable outcome that keeps moving the process forward and shows that Virginia does continue to value this program.”
As of Wednesday, the bill was being reviewed by committees in the House and Senate.
