Military family tuition waiver program is budget priority, Gov. Youngkin says NBC4 Washington [Video]

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced his budget priorities for the next legislative session Wednesday.

One of his priorities is to allocate millions of dollars to a tuition waiver program for military spouses and children whose loved ones were killed or disabled while on duty, the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program, also known as VMSDEP.

“I am proposing an additional $120 million dollars, 60 million each year, to allow heroes and their families to pursue their educational dreams at Virginia schools,” Youngkin said.

Youngkin announced this proposal during his annual budget address to the Joint Money Committee on Wednesday.

VMSDEP, which has been around since 1996, gives tuition waivers to spouses and children of military members who were killed or severely disabled during duty, like Kayla Owen of Stafford whose husband was severely disabled during his time as a Marine.

“We’re excited to hear that there might be a …