Some Virginia military families once again are fighting to protect a higher education benefit they were promised.
Kayla Owen spent most of last year fighting for a college waiver. She advocated and lobbied while also working, raising her kids and caring for her husband, a military veteran left severely injured as a result of his service.
Because of her husband's service-related injury, Owen and her kids qualify for the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program (VMSDEP), which offers higher education waivers.
Last year, the program was gutted, then reinstated. Then funding issues were raised and solved — temporarily.
We've got the news you need to know to start your day. Sign up for the First & 4Most morning newsletter — delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.
“We are back at a point where we have money through the end of the '25-'26 school year, but beyond that, we have no idea what the future of the program is gonna hold," Owen said.
The cost of funding VMSDEP is ballooning, lawmakers say, and Virginia's universities claim supporting the education of military families falls on the backs of other students in the form of tuition hikes.
During this year's state budget process, Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin wanted to pull money out of the Virginia529 college savings plan to pay for VMSDEP. Virginia529 has billions of dollars in surplus.
“This budget amendment, which uses the commonwealth saver's plan, which is excess money inside 529, to fund these tuition waivers up to $60 million a year will fully fund this program once and for all,” Youngkin said.
But this week, Virginia's House of Delegates passed on that idea. So, the current VMSDEP funding will run out after the coming school year, and families like Owen's will once again wonder if the state will hold up the promise it made to military families.
"This sounds like the perfect solution, and maybe we're back playing politics again," Owen said.
State Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington County, says the General Assembly wants to take a closer look at the billions of dollars in surplus that the 529 plan has amassed before committing it to the military education waivers.
“Where did it come from?” she asked. “Should we be returning any of that surplus money to some of the original subscribers? Are there other demands on that money? We need to take a whole, comprehensive look. But again, our commitment is to fund the VMSDEP program."
Now, that commitment will have to wait until next year, the same year current funding runs out to keep a promise to some families who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the commonwealth and country.
