As the General Assembly enters the final weeks of negotiating a new two-year state budget, lawmakers have an immediate opportunity to make college more affordable for Virginia students. At a time when families are anxious about rising living costs and growing uncertainty in higher education, reliability matters. A predictable state commitment to student aid can shape life outcomes: whether a first-generation student enrolls, whether a working adult persists and whether a future nurse or teacher completes a degree on time.
Virginia’s Tuition Assistance Grant (TAG), created in 1972, remains one of the commonwealth’s simplest and most student-centered affordability tools. It has helped more than 340,000 Virginians attend nonprofit independent colleges and universities in Virginia and has provided more than $2 billion in direct aid to students and families. Today, the maximum annual undergraduate TAG award is $5,250, and the graduate award is $5,000. At Hampton University and Virginia Union University, students also benefit from a supplemental HBCU TAG award of up to $7,500, bringing the total in-person undergraduate award to $12,750. That additional support appropriately reflects the historic and continuing role these institutions play in educating generations of Virginians and advancing opportunities across the commonwealth.
Yet the TAG program now faces a serious funding challenge. Approximately 23,000 students could see their awards reduced because program reserves are projected to be exhausted by FY27, leaving an annual shortfall of roughly $6.3 million. A modest investment by the General Assembly can prevent that disruption at a moment when students and families already face substantial uncertainty from changes in federal student aid policy enacted in last summer’s reconciliation law, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Federal changes include new limits on Pell Grant eligibility, the elimination of the Grad PLUS program and new constraints on federal borrowing that take effect in the next award cycle.
Virginia cannot control federal volatility, but it can protect Virginians from its consequences. TAG is one of the few tools available to do that immediately. It already supports graduate students in health-related programs through a $5,000 annual award, directly helping address Virginia’s workforce shortages. It also helps sustain pathways into nursing, counseling, teaching and other high-need fields that will be especially affected by the loss of Grad PLUS and tighter federal loan availability. Because nonprofit private colleges rely more heavily on graduate enrollment than public institutions, the federal changes make state action even more important. Students do not plan their lives one semester at a time; they commit to multi-year pathways. If Virginia wants more nurses, teachers, counselors and engineers, it must keep its promise to students already in the pipeline and strengthen support for those about to enter it.
Both chambers have recognized this affordability imperative. The Senate budget addresses it most directly by adding $7.7 million in FY27 and $9.6 million in FY28, for a total of $17.3 million in new student aid. That approach would hold harmless the current maximum undergraduate TAG award of $5,250 and prevent students from experiencing an unexpected cut midstream. It is a sound investment in predictability and affordability. CICV is especially grateful to Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, for her strong leadership on behalf of students and her advocacy for a budget amendment that protects and strengthens TAG.
The House of Delegates also takes meaningful steps forward. Its budget would increase TAG funding from $112,325,881 to $117,125,881 and add targeted enhancements of $1.8 million each year to provide an additional award of up to $2,000 for TAG-eligible students attending a Virginia nonprofit private institution designated as Hispanic-serving. CICV is grateful to Del. Betsy Carr, D-Richmond, for her consistent support for TAG and for Virginia students.
As budget conferees work toward a final conference report before Sine Die, the best outcome would combine the strengths of both proposals: the Senate’s hold-harmless funding sufficient to sustain the full $5,250 undergraduate award without disruption, and the House’s targeted enhancements to expand opportunity for students at Hispanic-serving institutions.
This is not complicated. Reliability is policy. TAG delivers a strong return on investment, generating roughly $2 in economic benefit for every $1 the commonwealth invests. Most importantly, it gives students and families confidence that Virginia will stand behind them as they pursue a degree, a credential and a career.
On behalf of 28 nonprofit private colleges and universities in Virginia, legislative leaders are urged to fund TAG fully in the final state budget. In a time of federal uncertainty and real financial strain for families, Virginia can provide students with greater access and affordability by committing to keeping doors open, supporting workforce development and strengthening the commonwealth’s future.
Christopher K. Peace is president of the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia Inc. and was a budget conferee (2018-2019) and 14-year member of the Virginia House of Delegates.
