At a meeting of the Virginia General Assembly’s Higher Education Subcommittee, members voted 7-0 to report Senate Bill 1106 as substituted to the language of House Bill 1595, adopting an amendment that directs accepted grant funds to be disbursed to participating institutions of higher education as a credit against a student’s financial account.

Senator Hashmi, the bill’s patron, told the committee the amendment was requested by institutions to prevent colleges and universities from carrying the tuition costs for Virginia National Guard members while awaiting reimbursement. “Upon acceptance grant funds shall be dispersed to the participating institution of higher education for credit against the student's financial account,” Hashmi said when summarizing the measure and the change added while the bill was in the Senate.

The amendment, Hashmi said, is intended to address a steep decline in use of the state tuition assistance after a 2021 change in how tuition was applied to National Guard members. Hashmi cited program use statistics: “In 2022, we had 414 users of the state tuition assistance program, but this past summer of 2023, we had declined so steeply that only 79 members of VNG were actually using the state tuition,” she said, arguing the change had shifted the tuition burden onto Guard members and on institutions.

Alexis Fryer, policy and legislative analyst for the Department of Military Affairs, told the committee the $250,000 figure mentioned in a companion House bill refers to a separate recruiting-and-retention program and is not part of the tuition assistance program. “That 250,000 is not added to the tuition program,” Fryer said, adding that the tuition program is currently funded at about $2,000,000 and that the department would like to see greater utilization of the tuition benefit.

Committee members asked whether the two bills could be reconciled; the chair moved to substitute the language of HB 1595 for SB 1106 to allow the sponsors to resolve the remaining technical differences in conference. The motion to report SB 1106 as substituted carried 7-0.

The measure will proceed to the next legislative steps where sponsors of the Senate and House versions are expected to meet to resolve the remaining technical differences.