Campaign hits $200,000 in bid to expand Roanoke Valley community college access

A fundraising campaign to send more Roanoke Valley students to Virginia Western Community College tuition-free has raised more than $200,000 in the six months since its launch.

The Roanoke school’s Community College Access Program, created in 2008, provides up to three years of tuition for qualified high school graduates in the Roanoke Valley. But the number of students accepted depends on the amount of funding on hand.

The nonprofit fundraising arm of the college is the Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation. Since 2014, the foundation has funded an average of 473 students, with a high of 551 in 2016 “amid a huge influx of graduating seniors,” said Amanda Mansfield, the foundation’s director of philanthropy.

Read more

Premium Employers