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Virginia Administrative Code
Title 8. Education
Agency 40. State Council of Higher Education For Virginia
Chapter 20. Regulations for the Senior Citizen Higher Education Program
11/23/2024

8VAC40-20-20. Eligibility.

A senior citizen may take courses without paying tuition or required fees, except for course materials, under certain conditions. If the senior citizen has taxable income of not more than $23,850 in the preceding year, the individual may take a course for academic credit free of tuition or fees, except for fees established for the purpose of paying for course materials, such as laboratory fees. A senior citizen, regardless of income level, may audit a course that is given for academic credit or take a noncredit course free of tuition or fees, except for fees established for the purpose of paying for course materials, such as laboratory fees.

No limit is placed on the number of terms, quarters, or semesters in which a senior citizen who is not enrolled for academic credit may register for courses, but the individual can take no more than three noncredit courses in any one term, quarter, or semester. There will be no restriction on the number of courses that may be taken for credit in any term, semester, or quarter, or on the number of terms, semesters, or quarters in which an eligible senior citizen may take courses for credit.

The two additional conditions listed below shall be met before a senior citizen may take a course under the provisions of this program:

1. The senior citizen shall meet the appropriate admission requirements of the institution in which the student plans to enroll; and

2. The senior citizen may be admitted to a course only on a space-available basis after all tuition-paying students have been accommodated. State institutions of higher education may make individual exceptions to this procedure when the senior citizen has completed 75% of the requirements for the degree.

An institution has no special obligation to offer courses specifically to meet the needs of senior citizens or to continue to provide a particular course for a senior citizen who has registered for the course if the regular enrollment in the course is not adequate to justify the offering.

Nothing in this regulation exempts a senior citizen enrolled in a course from the requirements for attendance and completion of course assignments.

Statutory Authority

§§ 23.1-203 and 23.1-640 of the Code of Virginia.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR380-01-01 § 2, eff. November 26, 1986; amended, Virginia Register Volume 5, Issue 21, eff. August 16, 1989; Volume 21, Issue 22, eff. September 28, 2005; Volume 32, Issue 2, eff. September 21, 2015.

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