RICHMOND, Va. — House and Senate Democratic majority leadership have reached an agreement on the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Program (VMSDEP), one day after the Senate failed to pass a bill that adjusted the tuition waiver program for families of fallen or disabled veterans.
The VMSDEP allows those who qualify to receive higher education for free. Over the past five years, enrollment in the program jumped from 1,385 students to 6,107, increasing the cost for Virginia's state colleges from $12 million to $65 million.
To rein in those costs, the budget deal passed in May restricted eligibility to associate and undergraduate degrees, required participants to apply for other forms of financial aid and tightened residency requirements.
The changes sparked outrage amongst military families and since then, those affected, along with Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, have called on elected officials to remove the new language and restore the program in full.
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The House of Delegates passed a bill to repeal those changes on Friday. But on Monday night, the Senate failed to do the same.
Hours before Tuesday's announcement, House Speaker Don Scott spoke with 13News Now about the situation and his optimism to reach a deal.
"I just think it took us a minute to get here. It's going to get us a minute to get out of it, and I have complete confidence in everybody involved," said Scott. "Hopefully sooner rather than later, but I know we can come up with a solution on the other side of this thing that everybody will be happy with."
Around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Delegate Luke Torian, the Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said he and his Senate counterpart, Senate Finance Committee Chairwoman L. Louise Lucas, will introduce identical legislation in both chambers on July 18.
In a news release, Torian said that "the legislation will fully repeal the changes to VMSDEP and related tuition waivers and will provide an additional $90 million from the FY 2024 surplus to offset costs of the program."
Sen. Lucas shared the announcement on social media, saying she was happy to announce a deal.
Multiple lawmakers, including Governor Glenn Youngkin, had previously shared frustrations with the process and several pointed fingers at Lucas, who also serves as the Chairman of the Senate Finance and Appropriates Committee. In response to criticisms earlier this week, Lucas shared on X (formerly known as Twitter) that she wanted to offer a bill with a clean repeal and allocate more money for the program.
"I think when you get a lot of different folks in a room to try and solve a problem, you don't always agree on the best way forward," said Scott.
Gov. Youngkin praised news of the deal.
"A full, clean repeal with additional financial support for the VMSDEP program, unencumbered by any other provisions, is great news for our military heroes, first responders, and their families," he wrote on X.
Kayla Owen is the co-founder of Friends of VMSDEP, an advocacy group that has grown to more than 2,000 people. Owen is one of many Virginians who are frustrated by the circumstances surrounding the program, and she is directly impacted.
"I had planned to start using this in the Fall because there is no formal commitment for a community college, where I intended to take those pre-requisite classes," she said. "Unfortunately I am now excluded from the program."
She and many others who benefit from the program are waiting for lawmakers to act on an official solution so their lives can move forward.