Virginia21 pushes for financial aid increase

A bipartisan Virginia lobbying group supporting legislation focused on the best interests of the state’s youth is honing in on the state’s budget moving into the 2016 legislative session.

The group, Virginia21, is pushing state legislators to increase funds for financial aid by $83 million over the next two years. Jared Calfee, executive director at Virginia21, said the extra funding Virginia21 is seeking this session will increase the percentage of need met to 35 percent, compared to 31 percent this year.

“It’s a way of funding colleges that goes directly to students,” said James Morton, the deputy director of Virginia21.

Both Calfee and Morton are confident the budget debate this session will end with an increase in state funding for education, specifically toward financial aid, because the state has a $553 million budget surplus.

Virginia currently ranks 43rd in state funding for higher education and has the 14th highest university tuition and and fees — overall the Virginia ranks 24th of total revenue raised.

At a fundraising and launch event last week, Virginia21 announced the formation of the Young Virginians Legislative Caucus, a bipartisan group of the eight Virginia legislators currently under the age of 35.

The goal of the caucus is to address “major issues impacting young people in the Commonwealth,” Calfee said in a press release before the event.

The legislators in attendance at the launch last week said they supported efforts to increase the budget for financial aid, adding the measures would help the state’s overall economic stability.

“I think affordable higher education is vitally important,” said Glen Sturtevant (R-Richmond), a freshman senator representing the state’s 10th district. “We’ve got to make sure that if you are a Virginian and you grow up here that you have an opportunity to go to a two or four-year public college or university and be able to afford it.”

In the election last month, Sturtevant’s platform focused on education and his time on the Richmond school board.

Lamont Bagby (D-Henrico) said higher education funding at the state-level was at the top of his priority list going into this session.

“If you can address that it can help you address some other issues,” Bagby said.

“Which is a very modest increase and it’s obviously not where we eventually want to be, but it starts us moving in the right direction,” Calfee said.

Laura Bryant, VCU’s Virginia21 chapter president, said she is optimistic in youth oriented organization’s ability to create change in the state government.

“I strongly believe that  young people can make a difference in politics,” Bryant said in an email. “We can’t keep waiting and wishing for generations before us to wake up and do what we ask them too we have to take what we want for ourselves.”

Print Managing Editor, Matt Leonard

Matt is a senior print journalism major and political science minor graduating this December. Matt began at the CT as a contributing writer before moving up to staff writer and online news editor. Matt worked at The Denver Post with the web team as a Dow Jones News Fund digital intern last summer, and previously interned with WTVR/CBS6. // Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

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