Virginia Lawmakers Consider Bill to Encourage Students to Start at 2-Year Colleges

By JOSH KELLER

In an effort to absorb Virginia's growing college-age population, state legislators are considering a bill that would give students who start out at community colleges a financial bonus after they transfer to a public four-year institution.

The grant program, proposed by two leading lawmakers, would allow qualifying transfer students to pay the same tuition and fees at public four-year institutions that they paid at a community college. Each student who transfers to an in-state private