(The Center Square) — The 30-member task force created to keep a beloved Virginia military education assistance program alive met Thursday to hear a report on the program’s sustainability from the state legislative watchdog agency.
The Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program offers tuition, fee waivers and some stipends to eligible spouses and children of military veterans in the commonwealth.
The Joint Audit and Review Commission study revealed that program costs have risen to an average of 4.2% of most Virginia public universities’ tuition revenue. It also found some key differences between the commonwealth’s program and 25 similar ones in other states.
The program’s costs are more substantial for some universities than others. The VMSDEP waiver, as a percentage of total tuition revenue, was highest at the University of Mary Washington, at 8.5%, in fiscal year 2023.
For seven of Virginia’s 15 four-year public colleges, including UMW, the waiver comprised approximately 5% or more of that year’s total tuition revenue. Since program eligibility was broadened in 2019, enrollment in the program has increased between 214% and 588% at 14 of the state’s public universities.
Task force member Kayla Owen, co-founder of advocacy group Friends of VMSDEP and the wife of a disabled veteran, appeared skeptical that the numbers should cause real financial distress, citing another just-completed JLARC study that concluded that none of Virginia’s public universities had a high level of viability risk.
“If these higher education institutions were not deemed to be financially at risk… or the risk was low and they were not in compliance, then… VMSDEP did not play a part in creating a financial risk for those institutions – is that correct?” she asked the commission’s senior associate director, Justin Brown.
“I’m not sure I agree with all of that,” Brown responded, repeatedly affirming that there was some risk for seven schools and that bringing the viability study into the VMSDEP study was unhelpful.
“I think there’s some conflating with some topics here,” Brown said.
Owen wasn’t alone in questioning the real impact on Virginia universities.
“Does it really matter to the institutions, from a financial perspective, if they do or do not recover the money?” asked David DePippo, a representative from the U.S. Coast Guard.
Task force member William Kelly, Christopher Newport University president and a retired Coast Guard rear admiral who is 100% service-related disabled, spoke to the issue.
“In very layman’s terms, any of us who had to take a 5% cut in your budget, that would be significant,” Kelly said. “I’m going to be challenged as inflation continues to grow and prices continue to grow to not pass those costs along to students who aren’t eligible for this or other waiver programs.”
As Virginia strives to be the most veteran-friendly state, its program also offers some of its benefits to military families more freely than some other states, according to the study.
VMSDEP does not currently set academic benchmarks for program participants, nor does it require that participants seek other federal or state aid before taking advantage of its benefits.
Most of the 25 similar programs evaluated set an academic standard for enrollees and factor in other aid (21 and 17, respectively). Less than half of the programs include graduate-level education, though Virginia’s currently does.
However, several members of the task force indicated that narrowing eligibility or program cuts wasn’t the right response and that concern over dollars and cents was at least somewhat misplaced.
“I think the whole issue isn’t sustainability and yet that was your task. I think it’s about caring for Virginians,” said Caitlin Goodale-Porter, another Coast Guard veteran, to Brown. “Right now, I’m a little worried.”
Though she acknowledged that the universities face a real challenge, she said the priority for VMSDEP shouldn’t be sustainability.
“We can do this better. That goes to the legislature: We need to decide to fund it because the schools really do have an issue,” she said. “The bottom line is, Virginia has a wonderful program. Let’s make it survive rather than worry about its sustainability.”
Sen. Bill DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach, also a veteran, seemed to echo Goodale-Porter’s sentiments.
“We look at this as $90 million in a multi-$100-billion budget,” DeSteph said. “I can scrape through any budget out there and find the money to truly fund this program. It’s not that big of a deal.”
Though the task force was only required to meet twice when Youngkin commissioned it, it looks like it will continue for a while longer.
“We’re not done,” said Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera. “The door is not closed. We’re asking more questions and [taking] comments… We will make sure that every question is answered and every comment is recorded.”
