Another Sorensen Youth Proposal Becomes General Assembly Legislation

Last week we reported the news that proposed legislation now before the General Assembly actually had its origins as a student project in Sorensen's College Leaders Program Class of 2005. This week we learn of yet another bill our legislators are considering that also began as a student project in the same class.

Terry G. Kilgore (District 1 in Southwest Virginia) has introduced House Bill 1459, the Higher Education Tuition Lock Certificate Program. The proposed law, now before the Committee on Education, essentially locks tuition and fees for full-time college students while they are in school—thus making it easier on families and students to budget for a college education.

The origins of this bill are in the College Leaders Program, summer 2005 class. The members of the "Education Policy Group"—Mehreen Farooq of Christopher Newport University, Jennifer Jessie of
Virginia Tech, Laura Harris of UVA, Aaron Jennings of UVA and Jessica Wingfield of VCU—drafted this proposal together after many hours of research and discussion. Laura Harris later contacted Delegate Kilgore, putting to use many of the advocacy skills she had learned in the Sorensen program, and asked him to carry the bill to the House.

Congratulations to all our students!