By Steve Haner
Virginia’s political leaders are embarked upon another of their occasional efforts to clean up their own mess, in this case scrambling to restore a generous tuition waiver at Virginia’s public universities for family members of certain veterans.
It is being touted as a benefit for Virginia “gold star families” of the fallen. Were it only for them there would be no controversy.
Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) is asking the General Assembly to either use its current special session or come to a new special session to further amend the budget he signed with great fanfare. Buried in the provisions was language to rein in the cost of the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program (VMSDEP.)
The political explosion has been far more violent than many clearly expected, although at the time of the vote on the compromise budget some legislators stood up to complain about the new rules. Legislators are snipping and snarking at each other on social media seeking some partisan edge. Sorry, folks, this is a bipartisan cockup with a long history.
Reading through a recent House Appropriations Committee presentation on the history and growing cost of the “free” tuition program, I was transported back 50 years to Economics 101, and William and Mary’s Allen Sanderson lecturing on the inevitable outcome of government generosity. I still hear him saying, “When government subsidizes something, you get more of it.”
The presentation from the House education analyst Tony Maggio should be enshrined in future textbooks about how these little acorns of gratitude turn into mighty oaks of entitlement. An untold part of the story is how the unforgivable greed of the schools themselves, raising their own tuition and fees, has added to the claimed cost of this mandate to waive them.
In one of Maggio’s slides he reports that the waivers granted to eligible students equate to 15% of the tuition revenue at the Virginia Military Institute, and 12% at Norfolk State University and Old Dominion University. In several other schools it approaches 10%. There has been no special provision within the budget to allocate dollars directly for this program. It is the classic “unfunded mandate.”
Adding some direct funding was one of the revisions in the new budget, and the whole exercise screams for a cost cap, but first we must review the acorn-to-oak history, as related by Maggio.
The program dates back to 1930, when it was limited to 18-25 year-old survivors (children and spouses) of those 100% disabled or killed in World War 1. The deceased or disabled parent had to have entered service from Virginia and the cost of the program was capped at the sum appropriated to support it. Presumably, it stayed the same through World War II and the post war years.
Then after Vietnam it was expanded to cover students with a weaker connection to Virginia. The dead or disabled parent could have been a Virginia citizen earlier in their lives, if not at the time of the war.
Following 9-11 and the conflicts in the Middle East, the cap placed on the program by direct appropriation was removed and it became purely a waiver, putting the burden on the schools. The age of the prospective student was raised to 29 and could be above 29 with extenuating circumstances. Mere presence in the state by the veteran became the test, not state citizenship.
Then the big changes came in 2019 and later. In 2019, the program was offered to dependents with a 90% disability that might have occurred from the armed conflict. In 2022, eligibility was expanded to stepchildren and the domicile requirement was further loosened.
Hey, who ever lost an election by voting to give more benefits to veterans? A recent new state tax subtraction for military retirement pay is another example. Now all the Virginia legislators are cowering at the possible election impact of having voted to rein in the tuition program cost, which almost all did.
By 2023, about 6,400 students were receiving an average benefit in excess of $10,000, with 20% of them not in-state-eligible by the rules. The 2024 cost was projected to reach $85 million for 8,300 recipients. That is about a 500% increase in beneficiaries since 2019.
What did the 2024 General Assembly adopt as changes starting with the next term? They were significant. Maggio spends several slides on them. The residence requirement was tightened, and the waivers could only be used for the student’s first undergraduate degree. A requirement that the student be maintaining their grades, which dates back to 1930, was restored. An effort to coordinate with other benefit or student aid programs such as Pell was instituted, in some cases an open means test.
Just where the General Assembly might land if it does rush back to Richmond to vote again is anybody’s guess. Given the political heat and shortage of light being generated, a return to the status quo is very possible. Rolling back any entitlement is hard, but this one comes wrapped in the flag.
As the son, brother and father of wartime veterans, I yield to no one in my respect for their service and that of others. But reading Maggio’s history, this clearly got out of hand, and it makes sense to return to a program closer to the limited original vision, with an appropriation to take the pressure off the schools. Otherwise, it is largely paid for by the other tuition-paying students.
Some edits have been made to the original text to correct errors brought to my attention.