Virginia Highlands Community College and its foundation announced Thursday a program offering tuition-free education to students from Bristol, Virginia.
The Bristol Virginia Promise Program will be open to recent high school graduates from Bristol, starting with the high school class of 2026. The program is open to public school students, along with private and homeschooled students who have lived in Bristol for at least 12 months prior to graduating high school.
The announcement was made during an assembly at Virginia High School.
The program, made possible by a gift from the Anne & Gene Worrell Foundation, will provide last-dollar support to eligible students from Bristol attending the community college in Abingdon. Federal, state financial aid and scholarships will be applied first, with the promise program picking up any remaining balance for tuition and fees. The program is open to students taking workforce credential courses as well as those taking academic courses for eventual transfer to a four-year university.
“Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of the Anne & Gene Worrell Foundation, every resident of Bristol, Virginia will now have the chance to pursue a college education or career training program, regardless of their financial situation,” Virginia Highlands Community College President Adam Hutchison said in a statement. “This investment will strengthen families, transform futures, and fuel the economic growth of our region for generations to come.”
[Disclosure: The Anne & Gene Worrell Foundation is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
Unlike some other last-dollar aid programs, there is no minimum GPA for eligibility. That was intentional, said Laura Pennington, vice president of institutional advancement at VHCC and the executive director of the VHCC Educational Foundation, in order to ensure training and education are “as accessible as possible.”
VHCC already offers promise programs to cover tuition for students in Washington County and Smyth County. The Washington County program offers an additional $500 for students to purchase textbooks.
Promise programs exist in several communities in Southwest Virginia. Most recently, the Patrick County Education Foundation announced a promise program for students attending Patrick & Henry Community College. The foundation raised money for the fund for four years prior to opening it up to students for fall 2026.
For the 2024-2025 academic year, VHCC saw nearly 4,000 students in its academic credit and short-term career credential courses. About half of the students at the college are eligible for the federal Pell Grant, which is reserved for students with the greatest financial need.