The Virginia Senate will return to Richmond next Tuesday to address restrictions added to state military education benefits. The proposed fix comes after veterans and families demanded changes, arguing new rules in the budget had ruined college plans for their children.
The Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program, or VMSDEP, was started in 1930 to make education affordable for the families of injured vets. But changes made to the program in 2019 led to an explosion in its cost. Governor Glenn Youngkin and both the Virginia House and Senate have agreed to reconvene and address the issue. The Senate announced its plan Thursday morning.
“Anybody who committed to school or got waitlisted or is going to community college this fall will have no change in their benefits,” Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell told Radio IQ. “It also will remove any kind of restrictions on Gold Star families and people who receive benefits due to line of duty benefits, which are police officers killed in line of duty.”
And while a handful of limits will stay for some previous beneficiaries, Surovell said those impacted won’t be applying to college this year and the legislature would address the problem in the near future. The special session will also ask for a new JLARC study on the program, to be due in November ahead of the 2025 legislative session.
For his part, Governor Glenn Youngkin has since taken to social media to demand, in line with VMSDEP beneficiaries, “a clean bill that solely and fully repeals and reverses the eligibility changes made to VMSDEP.”
Questions sent to Youngkin's office about whether the Senate plan met that demand were referred back to the social media post.
Meanwhile a bi-partisan collection of elected officials from both legislative chambers, led by Senator Bryce Reeves, said they hope whatever decisions will be made, they’ll be made after proper public hearings.
“We recognize that current and prospective VMSDEP enrollees have been rightfully angered and confused by the lack of transparency surrounding the new program requirements and the grandfather clause in the budgetary language,” the elected officials said. “Any potential changes to this program should have had their fiscal and community impacts clearly articulated to the public before being finalized.”
Virginia’s House of Delegate also plans to take up the issue later this month. The gap in time could complicate matters if delegates don’t agree with the senate's proposed fixes. But Surovell said rules made for the special session restrict further action.
“No amendments are allowed for the bill either in committee or on the floor or in either chamber, so this bill, as introduced, has to go or it doesn’t go,” the Fairfax-area senator said.
As of Thursday afternoon, a bipartisan House effort to roll back the offending budget language was submitted. Delegates Luke Torian, Mike Cherry, Michael Feggans and Jackie Glass - the last three of which are veterans- are all co-patrons of the bill.
Tuesday's reconvene date also falls on Virginia's 2024 primary. Several Virginia Senators are on the ballot that day and it was unclear whether they'd stay and electioneer in their district or attend the special session. Surovell said there was no plans to allow remote voting, a tool allowed during the pandemic, but since disavowed.
A feature of the program that has caused headaches is its use of waivers, not direct funding. That means Virginia universities have to give up slots to those who won’t be paying tuition. The increased cost, or lack of revenue, was reported from the universities themselves to State Council of Higher Education for Virginia
Advocates of the program have argued numbers of beneficiaries provided by state colleges have been overblown, but in a statement VCU President Michael Rao called the program an unfunded mandate that was causing tuition increases for all students.
“Our colleges and universities look forward to collaborating with the Commonwealth to establish a sustainable framework for the program,” Rao said.
Surovell said the JLARC study will help divine whether or not "everybody's operating from the same set of facts."
At a meeting held in May, an analyst for the House of Delegates broke down how the costs grew and compared Virginia’s program to other states.
Among the differences: Texas requires other financing options to be exhausted and requires recipients to be citizens of the state when they enter military service. California has an income threshold to target lower income applicants, Virginia does not.
Surovell pointed to the expansive nature of Virginia’s program as part of the problem in need of a solution. Among his complaints was only one year of state residency is required before gaining the benefit.
“A lot of people, it's easier for them to move in and then claim the benefits,” he said, noting the Department of Veterans Affairs itself was advertising the program as a cost-saving measure for veterans around the nation.
Surovell also pointed to new tax benefits given to Virginia's vets, tax-free income up to $40,000 a year, which is costing every Virginia taxpayer about $10.
“We want to do everything we can for our veterans, but we also have to be cognizant of the cost burden that it places on college students and others,” Surovell added. “It has to be fair.”
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.