Copyright Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
Virginia’s 28 independent colleges expect they and their students will see a more than $285 million hit from the cuts to various federal supports because of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” The private schools say the cuts include reductions to Pell Grants, funds awarded to undergraduate students who can show exceptional financial need, amounting to $28.4 million. They also include the loss of $208 million of Grad PLUS loans, which can help pay for education expenses for eligible graduate or professional students, and the loss of $3.5 million in Parent PLUS loans to parents covering those expenses. Other impacts include $41 million from the loss of access to Title IV Federal Student Aid Programs, as well as new paperwork demands, expired energy credits and an excise tax on salaries. “We are currently adjusting to dramatic policy and budget changes by the federal government affecting college affordability,” Chris Peace, president of the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia, said Monday during a news conference at the General Assembly Building. “The current budget proposal before Congress, notwithstanding the shutdown, really cast doubt on the future of SEOG and federal Work Study,” Peace said. He referred to the federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant for students with exceptional financial need. “Families are now facing less access to federal loans, smaller grants and greater uncertainty, especially middle-income and lower-income Virginians and first-generation college families,” said Peace, who represented Hanover County in the House of Delegates from 2006 to 2020. He said Virginia’s Tuition Assistance Grant financial aid for Virginia students who are attending the state’s private colleges is more important than ever and needs to be increased in the state’s next two-year budget. Gov. Glenn Youngkin will propose a two-year budget in December before he leaves office in January. The General Assembly will modify the proposal in the legislative session that starts in January and send it to Virginia’s new governor for review. Tyler Orr, career services director at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista, said: “We need to strengthen colleges and universities that intentionally develop students who have learned how to learn … in this context.” He said that “makes up one of the most compounding reasons to continue to invest in private and liberal arts institutions in Virginia through TAG (the Tuition Assistance Grant program) and other programs like that.” He added: “We produce graduates that stick around in Virginia and contribute to the economy here.” Peace noted that several of the independent college council’s members are in rural Virginia and offer programs that are not otherwise easily available. The independent colleges also focus on students who are the first in their families to go to college, said Frank Shushok, president of Roanoke College.
