VaHigherEd.com

Transfer Grant Technical Change Bill Moving Forward 

Today, SB 148  (Stosch) passed the Senate unanimously on third reading.  The bill will now be communicated to the House of Delegates.  SB 148 makes the transfer grant available to first-time students who started community college in the summer of 2007. (The transfer grant bill which passed the General Assembly in 2007 had applied to students who began community college a few months later, in the fall of 2007).   Other clarifying amendments make certain that a student’s state financial aid eligibility is no longer reduced by the size of the grant that they receive, rewards student improvement by changing the requirement of “maintaining a 3.0 GPA” to “graduated with a cumulative GPA of at least a 3.0,” and prorates the award for students taking less than a full-time course load.  In addition, the bill also stipulates that the grant award will be prorated in the unlikely event that the General Assembly does not appropriate adequate funds.

Send Your Tax Refund to the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education!

Any Virginian who is eligible for a state tax refund may soon be able to earmark some of their refund for the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education!  HB 1000 (Bell) adds the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education to the list of charities and foundations that can receive voluntary contributions from Virginia state tax refunds.  The bill passed the House of Delegates today on a unanimous vote.  For example, if a Virginian is due a $100 refund,  in the future they will be able to check a box on their tax form and send at least $1 of their refund to the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education. The VFCCE would then award the funds collected in the form of scholarships.   The bill now heads to the Senate.

Scholarship Match Bill Passes Senate Committee

SB 125 (Edwards) passed the Senate Finance Committee unanimously on Jan. 30 and was heard on first reading on the Senate floor today.  SB 125 will establish the Community College Match program to provide matching funds from the Commonwealth of Virginia to the foundations of the 23 community colleges and the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education.   

Should the bill pass and the General Assembly appropriate the funding of up to $5 million per year,  the match will  be paid on the basis of one dollar of state general fund appropriation for every one dollar donated by private individuals, foundations, or corporations beginning on July 1, 2008.  These funds shall be used to award scholarships to students who (i) are domiciled residents of Virginia, (ii) graduated from a public or private Virginia high school, and (iii) are enrolled in a Virginia community college.  The provisions of the bill are contingent upon an appropriation of general funds in the 2008 General Appropriation Act.

The counterpart bills in the House–HB 117 (Landes), HB 512 (Dance), and HB 1293 (Athey) have been assigned to the Higher Education subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee and are expected to be taken up on Feb. 4.  

 Posted by Ellen Davenport