NORFOLK, Va. — There has been speculation about whether the General Assembly was gutting education benefits for severely disabled veterans and their families, here’s what we found out.
The Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program provides a tuition and fee waiver and a stipend to public universities for veterans who are permanently disabled, as well as their spouses or kids.
There's a proposed change to the program that would have eligible people apply for and use other financial aid for tuition before the program kicks in.
State Senator Bill Desteph says lawmakers have long worked to restructure the program, but he still supports it.
"I think it's a good thing that we're allowing this for the spouses of our fallen military. Absolutely. I think if we could, that, that we should allow them to, um, you know, benefit from that” Desteph said.
Virginia Department of Veteran Services is responsible for the program and collaborates with the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia or SCHEV.
A spokesperson from SCHEV told 13News Now that with rapid growth in the last five years, costs climbed to 66 million. The proposed change is meant to save money for the state university system.
A statement from Christopher Newport University says that "tuition and mandatory fee waivers associated with the VMSDEP have increased from $300,000 in 2017-18 to more than $3 million in 2023-2024." They go on to say "funding is needed to ensure the burden is not passed along to tuition-paying students."
In a statement Old Dominion University similarly says fee waivers "has grown from $2 million in FY19 to over $9 million in FY23 and is now projected to be over $13 million in FY24." They go on to say "the proposed reforms to the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program (VMSDEP) will help ensure Virginia’s military survivors and dependents are supported in their pursuit of undergraduate education, while also providing the University with a dedicated funding source and sustainable funding model."