A BILL to amend and reenact § 23.1-1301 of the Code of Virginia, relating to public institutions of higher education; undergraduate Virginia student tuition and mandatory fees; two-year freeze.
HB1312 would amend Virginia law governing the powers of the boards of visitors at public institutions of higher education to impose a cap on undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees charged to Virginia students. Under the bill, those charges at each public institution would be frozen at the rate charged for the first academic term of the 2025–2026 academic year, effectively creating a two-year tuition and mandatory-fee freeze for in-state undergraduates.
The bill also makes a technical change to § 23.1-1301 by restating the existing powers of governing boards over budgets, personnel, student discipline, property, intellectual property, campus safety, and related matters, while adding the tuition cap as a limitation on those powers. The measure would expire on July 1, 2028, so the freeze would be temporary rather than permanent.
HB1312 would directly affect public colleges and universities in Virginia by limiting their ability to raise undergraduate tuition and mandatory fees for Virginia residents during the freeze period. It would constrain institutional pricing authority that is otherwise granted to governing boards under § 23.1-1301, while leaving the rest of the boards’ statutory powers largely intact. The bill would not appear to alter tuition for nonresident students or other charges beyond undergraduate Virginia student tuition and mandatory fees.
The available legislative history shows no recorded votes or committee debate, and the bill was left in the House Appropriations Committee. Based on the bill’s purpose, the measure appears to be aimed at affordability and predictability for Virginia families, which is generally a consumer- and student-friendly policy position. The lack of recorded opposition or discussion in the provided materials means the overall sentiment cannot be measured from testimony, but the committee outcome suggests it did not advance out of Appropriations.
The main point of contention is likely fiscal: freezing tuition and mandatory fees would reduce or constrain revenue growth for public institutions, potentially affecting budgets, staffing, and program funding. Universities and higher-education finance stakeholders would likely be concerned about loss of flexibility, while students, parents, and affordability advocates would likely support the cap. A secondary issue is governance, because the bill limits the discretion of institutional boards that normally set tuition and fees. The bill’s temporary sunset may have been intended to address those concerns by making the policy time-limited.