FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Students rally around community college transfer grant proposal RICHMOND, VA (January 25, 2007) - Community college students from around the Commonwealth joined Virginia21 and Senate Majority Leader Walter A. Stosch (R-Henrico) recently at the J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College Parham Road Campus for a rally designed to educate and garner support for the proposed Virginia Community College Transfer Grant program. Designed to address the dual challenges of accessibility and affordability currently confronting Virginia’s institutions of higher learning, the legislation was introduced to the 2007 session of the General Assembly by Stosch and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Vincent F. Callahan, Jr. (R-Fairfax). Current estimates indicate that enrollment levels at four-year and two-year institutions in Virginia will increase between 21 percent and 25 percent by Fiscal Year 2012. Senator Stosch and Delegate Callahan co-chaired a joint subcommittee that examined issues related to enrollment growth and increased costs of higher education. To be eligible to receive a grant, a community college graduate must: (i) have maintained a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 on a scale of 4.0 or its equivalent while enrolled in an associate degree program at a Virginia community college, (ii) have applied for financial aid, and (iii) have financial need, defined by having a family income of equal to or less than 150 percent of Virginia median family income, or 150 percent of the median family income of their home locality, whichever is greater. Surrounded by hundreds of students, JSRCC student and Virginia21 campus coordinator Mia Molnar presented Senator Stosch with a box of over 500 signed petitions supporting the legislation. Virginia21 is an action-tank involving young people across the Commonwealth in the political process by providing information, directing advocacy and coordinating political action on a non-partisan issue agenda. ###
J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College | Press Center |
