Students in Virginia may soon be able to attend a four-year college at community college prices.
In an effort to boost college graduation rates and address affordability issues at Virginia’s public schools, state lawmakers recently introduced a bill to the General Assembly that would allow community college graduates to transfer to a four-year institution but continue paying the less expensive community college tuition.
The Community College Grant Transfer Program, introduced in both houses of the General Assembly last month, was designed to give students in need of financial assistance the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree.
Students would have to maintain at least a 3.0 grade point average to be eligible.
The bill requests $3.7 million in state funding, which would pay for the differencein tuition during the first year of the program. The average difference between community college and a four-year institution in Virginia is about $4,000 annually, said Glenn DuBois, chancellor of the Virginia Community College System.
“Twelfth grade is no longer the finish line,” said DuBois, who has been vocal in his support of the grant program. “It has to be post-secondary education.”
About 34 percent of Virginia’s 18- to 24-year-olds are currently enrolled in college, which is well below the rate in most states in the nation.
For example, about 54 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds in Rhode Island are enrolled in college. Maryland has about 35 percent enrollment.
“The Community College Transfer Grant program is important to Virginia’s future because it will help students out there who are high academic achievers, but have financial constraints,” said Laura Baker, a spokeswoman for Virginia21, a nonprofit focused on education advocacy in the state.
The organization has so far collected 7,000 signatures from community college students in support of the bill, Baker said.
