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Governor Terry McAuliffe Reveals Proposed Higher Education Funding

Mallory Noe-Payne

Since the recession, state funding for higher education across the country has plummeted - including here in Virginia, where it remains a quarter below what it was before the recession. Governor McAuliffe revealed details today about how he’d like to fund higher education in the state for the next two years.

As the state has decreased funding for higher education, Virginia’s public colleges have had to increase tuition and fees.

To help families out, the governor is proposing almost 50-million more dollars be available in financial aid from the state. Virginia’s Secretary of Education Anne Holton explains.

“Partly the cost of college has gone up, partly folks’ need has gone up and so the percentage of that need that we’ve been meeting has slipped considerably over the last decade,” Holton says. "This will begin to turn the corner on that.”

The proposal also includes 8 million to establish an online degree program for those students who don’t go straight to a four-year college from high school.

“The folks I worry about the most are those who end up with debt and no degree. If you get the degree you’re going to be alright,” Holton says. "But we do have an awful lot of students who are piling up debt and not getting to the finish line and we gotta change that.”

To help change that, the governor’s proposal also includes funds to help colleges entice students who have dropped out, to come back. 

Mallory Noe-Payne is a Radio IQ reporter based in Richmond.
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