Army Lt. Col. Christian Bonno remembers the sinking feeling in his stomach as he sat at home last spring, staring at his computer screen.
He was working with his wife, Jacqueline, to submit their youngest son's application for the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program.
But VMSDEP, which waives tuition at Virginia's public colleges for the families of certain veterans, wouldn't be available to their kids for another few years.
He looked at his wife and asked: "What do we do now?"
The Bonnos had moved to Northern Virginia on military orders in 2024, but state law requires families to have lived in the state for five years before the tuition waiver kicks in.
It was a complication the family hadn't anticipated, one that Virginia's had in place since 1998.
Previously, they lived in South Carolina — also on military orders — where their oldest kids received tuition waivers through a similar state program.
After the move to Virginia, Bonno's 18-year-old son planned to attend George Mason University and live on campus to get the full college experience.
But when the family found out he wouldn't qualify for the VMSDEP waiver and would have to take out loans to attend GMU, he decided instead to live at home and enroll at Northern Virginia Community College.
"It's just a matter of cost," Christian Bonno said. "It's a bummer."
Bonno said the five-year residency requirement will also impact his 16-year-old daughter, who graduates from high school next year and hopes to attend Virginia Tech or the University of Virginia.
So, he contacted state Sen. Danica Roem (D–Manassas) about the problem. Roem introduced legislation earlier this year to remove the requirement for families in similar situations, but it was kicked to the 2027 session.
Roem told VPM News it's an issue of fairness and making Virginia the best state for veterans: "Just because the military sent them out of that state [South Carolina] doesn't mean that they should have lost enrollment to what's a really good program."
If a family was eligible for a similar program in another state, Roem said, they should then be eligible for VMSDEP upon coming to Virginia through military orders.
Roem acknowledged that the legislation was a tough sell for some lawmakers, considering the program's recent history. Virginia colleges and universities are required by law to waive tuition for prospective students who meet the program's eligibility criteria.
And as VPM News previously reported, significant enrollment increases in recent years have meant that the state has had to step in and pick up some of the tuition costs that were previously covered entirely by schools. For example, tuition waivers jumped from $12 million to $92 million over the span of about five years.
The General Assembly instituted cuts to the program in 2024 in order to keep rising costs under control, but those were later repealed. SCHEV anticipates a cost of about $150 million for the waiver for the current 2025-26 academic year.
Roem has asked Senate committee chairs to request data on her bill's fiscal impact. It's unclear how many other families are in the Bonnos' position. Tina Parlett-Calhoun, a Virginia Department of Veterans Services spokesperson, told VPM News that "no data is available" on what impact removing the five-year requirement could have.
Roem acknowledged the growing cost is a concern, but said she's dedicated to addressing her constituents' problems. The idea for the legislation came directly from two constituents — Bonno and another service member whose deployment overseas "screwed up" his family's eligibility timeline.
"When the military sends you out on lawful orders, we should not be counting that against your residency — especially when you're moving back to Virginia," Roem said.
Eligibility challenges
VPM News asked DVS, the state agency that certifies VMSDEP eligibility, why the five-year residency requirement was put in place to begin with.
In a prepared statement, Parlett-Calhoun said: "States have the responsibility to serve as exceptional financial stewards of taxpayer dollars, ensuring funds from programs like VMSDEP are extended to residents who will ultimately contribute to Virginia's quality of life before, during and potentially after participating in this benefit program. A specific residency requirement has been part of the VMSDEP eligibility requirements, as set forth in the Code of Virginia, since at least 1996, when a 10-year period was required."
Analyses by JLARC (the General Assembly's research agency) and the National Conference of State Legislatures show that at least a handful of other states have much shorter residency requirements: a year or less.
Before leaving South Carolina, the Bonnos even considered moving to Maryland instead of Virginia — which only requires residency at the time of college application. Bonno also said language on the Virginia DVS website regarding residency was confusing, just directing people to the state code section outlining the program's eligibility.
JLARC's analysis also shows 17 states have residency requirements of less than five years for program beneficiaries. However, Brittany Utz, a principal legislative analyst with JLARC, said that doesn't necessarily mean the programs in these states are more generous.
That's because some of those states also tie residency to military service.
"They wouldn't be eligible for the program if they didn't enter military service in that state," Utz said.
The VMSDEP tuition waiver also isn't available to families of active-duty service members killed outside of combat action.
Del. Michael Feggans (D–Virginia Beach) introduced a separate bill this year to change that. It would expand eligibility to dependents of service members who die on active duty outside of combat. That would include training accidents, service-connected illnesses or toxic exposures, or as a result of a mental health condition such as post-traumatic stress disorder or suicide.
"As a disabled veteran and as one of the members of the General Assembly who has a son who would be eligible for VMSDEP in a few years, VMSDEP is especially important not only to myself, but to many individuals within the commonwealth," he told other lawmakers when addressing the bill in February.
But that bill died in committee.
DVS told VPM News it didn't have any data on whether Feggans' bill, if approved, could lead to a significant program expansion.
Meanwhile, lawmakers have yet to approve a state budget that will determine funding levels for VMSDEP for fiscal 2027, which starts July 1. Both the Virginia House and Senate have proposed $85 million in annual VMSDEP funding, but removing $75 million in additional non-general fund allocations Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin proposed in December.
The General Assembly is set to reconvene on April 23 for a special session to finalize the budget.
"We're very grateful for every dollar we can get to help the institutions absorb this," said Lee Andes, SCHEV's director of finance policy and innovation.
However, he noted that the $65 million in state funding allocated for the tuition waiver in the current fiscal year is only covering about half the cost of the waivers for the 2024–25 school year.
Copyright 2026 VPM