{"id":76883,"date":"2024-07-19T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/07\/19\/virginia-lawmakers-restore-military-tuition-program-funding-for-now\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:58:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:58:30","slug":"virginia-lawmakers-restore-military-tuition-program-funding-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2024\/07\/19\/virginia-lawmakers-restore-military-tuition-program-funding-for-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia lawmakers restore military tuition program funding, for now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Legislators met on Thursday and<a href=\"https:\/\/lis.virginia.gov\/cgi-bin\/legp604.exe?242+sum+SB6012\" target=\"_blank\"> passed bills<\/a> to repeal changes to a college financial aid program for military veterans\u2019 families and designate $90 million towards sustaining it for at least the next two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program (VMSDEP) provides education benefits to children and spouses of severely injured or killed veterans. Amid the rising costs of the program in recent years, an effort to downsize it appeared in the state budget that lawmakers passed and Youngkin signed earlier this summer. That move was met with swift pushback from military families, who called for the changes to be reversed.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/education-transition\/2024\/07\/03\/virginia-lawmakers-reach-deal-on-military-tuition-program\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP24185653730828.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Virginia lawmakers reach deal on military tuition program<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">After weeks of disagreement, lawmakers will introduce legislation to repeal changes to the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A point of contention throughout the summer has been who should take the credit \u2014 or blame \u2014 for the changes, as lawmakers met several times attempting to resolve matters. Members from both parties have acknowledged a desire to fix what several deemed a \u201cmistake,\u201d and to study the matter further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cClearly, we did this in the budget and quite a few of us didn\u2019t understand the implications,\u201d Sen. Richard Stuart, R-King George, said during a Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee meeting earlier in the day. \u201cWe are trying to fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Enter military spouse Kayla Owen, who\u2019s prodded lawmakers all summer to protect the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During public comment at the committee meeting, Owen said that she didn\u2019t feel like the day\u2019s proceedings should be something legislators should pat themselves on the back too much for. While speaking to the committee, she urged lawmakers to stop \u201csneaking contentious or highly controversial legislation through the budget.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The statement gave Stuart and Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, pause; they both asked Owen if she\u2019d rather they leave and not pass the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both in a rebuttal to Owen and in an interview with media after the committee meeting, Lucas stressed that the changes to the program originally stemmed from the governor\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNothing was tucked into my budget,\u201d Lucas said. \u201cThe bill came out of the governor\u2019s office. So I just want to make sure I cleared that up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/education-transition\/2024\/06\/11\/virginia-education-program-cuts-for-military-families-spark-backlash\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_6850-2048x1536.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Virginia education program cuts for military families spark backlash<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Virginia lawmakers plan to reconvene to address controversial cuts to a tuition waiver program for military families.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Curious about details leading up to the now-repealed changes to the program, Owen has sought internal communications from the governor\u2019s office for insights into how the changes came about in the first place. Despite being a member of a task force Gov. Glenn Youngkin created to study the program and its future sustainability, Owen\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/virginiamercury.com\/2024\/07\/05\/youngkin-administration-denies-foia-request-from-member-of-own-task-force\/\" target=\"_blank\">Freedom of Information Act request was denied<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the legislature\u2019s actions, Youngkin signed the bills and said in a statement he and lawmakers \u201ctook the necessary step to reverse and fully repeal changes to VMSDEP and provided significant new funding for the program. We will continue our work to make Virginia the best place for our military, veterans, first responders and their families to live, work, raise a family, and retire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beyond the bills passed Thursday to continue funding the program for two years, Virginia\u2019s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission will conduct a study and Youngkin\u2019s task force will analyze the program, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Owen said she hopes the situation will encourage lawmakers to stop using the budget to legislate, as changes to VMSDEP done through a standalone bill originally would have been able to undergo a robust committee process. She suggested that the original VMSDEP changes were made \u201cunder the cloak of darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEverybody\u2019s blaming each other and it\u2019s like that Hamilton song \u2018Room Where It Happens\u2019 \u2014 nobody else is in the room where it happens!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the matter resolved for now, lawmakers will have their eyes on the various groups that are analyzing VMSDEP. As the costs of the program rise, Lucas stressed that lawmakers need to figure out how to make sure it can last for future generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c[The passage of bills on Thursday] will allow us to have a solution while we await results from the JLARC study and other groups to ensure that the program is sustainable in the long term,\u201d Lucas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the legislature reconvenes for its 2025 session, it could take up adjustments to the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Owen, who has spearheaded military families\u2019 advocacy for keeping the program, she said Thursday\u2019s actions are \u201ca sigh of relief until January.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/virginiamercury.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Virginia Mercury<\/i><\/a><i> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: <\/i><a href=\"mailto:info@virginiamercury.com\"><i>info@virginiamercury.com<\/i><\/a><i>. Follow Virginia Mercury on <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/thevirginiamercury\"><i>Facebook<\/i><\/a><i> and <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MercuryVirginia\"><i>X<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Legislators repealed changes to a college financial aid program for military families and allocated $90 million to it for the next two years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":108514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,7,12,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[7084],"class_list":["post-76883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-education-transition","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"PI2KLUSA3JDTHELH2F5V4G5ZEQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2024\/07\/19\/virginia-lawmakers-restore-military-tuition-program-funding-for-now\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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