The VEOF provides equal access to fulltime K-12 students and adult learners seeking a high school diploma or career credentials. Some full time K-12 students may lack the means to afford the necessary tools or access to participate in online learning. Similarly, some adult learners may need tuition assistance. The VEOF is designed for them.
Our History
VLACS was founded on the principles of equal access for all. Since 2007, the state of New Hampshire has provided tuition funding for New Hampshire K-12 students in part because it provided equity of access to every region of the state. Rural regions with smaller school populations can now offer an equal number of courses or pathways to pursue interests as larger communities and schools currently do. Larger urban and suburban communities that do not have the resources to meet students’ individual academic or personal learning needs now have a wide range of options. Students can now accelerate learning when appropriate or take more time to demonstrate learning when needed.
Goals
- To ensure that no K-12 full-time student is denied VLACS opportunities due to a lack of family resources or insufficient access to a computer or broadband.
- To support adult learners who lack the resources for VLACS tuition costs.
- To provide support and opportunity to nonprofit organizations and individuals looking for ways to better support underserved populations.
- To work with the larger business community to demonstrate the connections and advantages VLACS can provide in their workplace for the communities they serve.
- To work with stakeholders and Internet providers to create more equitable broadband access for our entire K-12 student population and adult learners.
You Can Help
As more students than ever before seek education online, VLACS must maintain this principle of equal access for all by ensuring that all students not only have access to the education they need, but also have the tools and resources necessary to succeed. We can’t do it with you.
Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the VEOF, and help set someone on the path to their next chapter.
Student Stories
VLACS will promote opportunities through the VEOF to educate and assist under-resourced fulltime and adult students who are unable to fully participate in VLACS options due to lack of resources. Efforts will include working with companies to promote broadband access and availability of financial subsidies, laptop vouchers for full time students who qualify for assistance, and tuition assistance for adult education students in need as they complete career transition prerequisites or earn a high school diploma.
It is our hope that the VEOF will support the hopes and aspirations of students like these:
Start a new career path
A single mom hopes to enter a nursing degree program, but needs to complete a biology prerequisite that she lacked in high school. The necessary course at the college wasn’t running until the fall semester and options at her local adult education program also weren’t available until fall. Rather than delaying the nursing program for a full year, she could start immediately thanks to the VLACS anytime, anywhere learning model. And she didn’t need to worry about arranging childcare while doing her initial course to advance her pathway to a new career. With VLACS, she also has access to job shadowing and badging options that can lead to industry certifications. The VEOF helped support her efforts with tuition assistance that eliminated all roadblocks for starting her college program without delay.
Get back on track
A woman in her late twenties had dropped out of high school to care for elderly relatives over a several year period. She became interested in some of the possibilities that might be available in the health field and through her efforts in completing her high school diploma through VLACS, she is training to become a phlebotomist. Through VLACS, she can work with her local hospital’s blood collection program to experience what the job entails while continuing to provide the support for her elderly relatives that they need. The VEOF was able to provide the computer equipment needed to participate.
Investigate career options
A 36-year-old woman with three children works in an optometrist’s office and wants to pursue her high school diploma in order to enter a program to train as an certified optometric technician. VLACS’s opportunities for internships and career exploration affords her options to investigate multiple career option pathways that connect with her current work and interests, as well as the flexibility to balance her pursuits with her family. Support from the VEOF meant that VLACS tuition would not be a barrier to her success.
Get the tools you need
A fifth-grade boy has suffered from bullying and resulting anxiety since he was little. The classroom environment has become untenable, and he is missing valuable learning time at his local school. His parents discover VLACS, but the family’s sole computer will be difficult to accommodate his online learning, siblings’ homework needs, and Dad’s pursuit of an online career certification. The VEOF is able to provide the laptop he needs to attend school in an environment that works for him and establish a trusting relationship with a VLACS instructor that can meet his needs.
Join with us to ensure no one is denied the educational opportunity they need.
Student with laptop on porch photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages