Participation in volunteer or public service organizations; uniform acceptance of credit earned.

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia; work group; study; uniform acceptance of credit earned through participation in certain volunteer or public service organizations; report. Requires the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to establish a work group consisting of representatives of each baccalaureate public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth and such other stakeholders as it deems appropriate to study the feasibility of the uniform acceptance by each such institution of college credit earned through student participation in certain volunteer or public service organizations such as AmeriCorps. The bill requires the work group, in conducting such study, to consider barriers to implementation, strategies for ensuring the rigor and quality of the service-learning opportunities for which credit would be granted, and innovative approaches in other states that could be emulated in the Commonwealth, such as California College Corps or similar state-sanctioned programs whereby students have access to a statewide program of service-learning opportunities through partnerships between campuses and community-based service organizations.

The bill requires the work group to submit its findings to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by November 1, 2026.