House Bill 1087 and Senate Bill 627 (Chapters 647 and 684, 2024 Acts of Assembly), now codified at Va. Code § 22.1-237.1, established the College and Career Ready Virginia (CCRV) Program and Fund. Section § 22.1-237.2 provides, “The Board [of Education] and the State Board for Community Colleges shall establish the College and Career Ready Virginia Program." Further, that “All funds appropriated for such purpose and any gifts, donations, grants, bequests, and other funds received on its behalf shall be paid into the state treasury and credited to the Fund." Lastly, community colleges and local school boards are prohibited from charging qualified high school students tuition or fees for enrolling and participating in Program courses.

The General Assembly identified the CCRV Program in Va. Code § 22.1-237.3 as consisting of “dual enrollment and participation of qualified high school students at the high school in college courses pursuant to the Passport Program and the Uniform Certificate of General Studies Program established in accordance with the requirements set forth in subsection B of § 23.1-907."

As provided in Va. Code § 22.1-100, dual enrollment is defined as:

the enrollment of a qualified high school student in a postsecondary course that is creditable toward high school completion and a career certificate or an associate or baccalaureate degree at a public institution of higher education. "Dual enrollment" does not include the enrollment of a qualified high school student in a postsecondary course that is not creditable toward high school completion.

Section § 23.1-907 provides that the Passport Program is a one-semester program consisting of 15-credit hours and is a component of the Uniform Certificate of General Studies Program. The Uniform Certificate of General Studies Program (the UCGS Program) is a one-year, 30-credit hour program. “Each [UCGS] Program and Passport Program course shall be transferable and shall satisfy a lower division general education requirement at any public institution of higher education." Section 23.1-907 further provides that:

Each comprehensive community college shall develop agreements for postsecondary credit and degree attainment with the public high schools in the school divisions that such comprehensive community college serves specifying the options for students to complete an associate degree, the Passport Program, or the Uniform Certificate of General Studies Program concurrent with a high school diploma consistent with the requirements for the College and Career Ready Virginia Program set forth in Article 5.1 (§ 22.1-237.1 et seq.) of Chapter 13 of Title 22.1

The CCRV initiative directly supports the Commonwealth’s goal of ensuring all public high school graduates are ready for life, through enrollment in postsecondary education options, employment, or enlistment in the military, while removing financial barriers to early college credit attainment.