BIG STONE GAP, Va. – Despite the chill and rain, vendors were setting up Friday for Home Craft Days, an annual festival expected to draw as many as 20,000 people to the campus of the Mountain Empire Community College.

State funding cuts to Piedmont Virginia Community College will sap funds from a vacant building the college had hoped to acquire and renovate.

CULPEPER, Va. - Despite Gov. Tim Kaine’s order last week to reduce overall state spending by five percent due to the slumping economy, Germanna Community College will avoid layoffs while cutting $577,291 from its fiscal year 2009 operating budget.

Class sizes will increase while course offerings decrease at Virginia Commonwealth University. The University of Virginia will defer maintenance on its historic grounds. And Christopher Newport University will close its study-abroad center in the Czech Republic next semester. Those are just a few of the ways Virginia’s colleges and universities will accommodate budget reductions announced Thursday by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.

A two-year engineering program will begin next fall at John Tyler Community College with help from a $400,000 grant from Altria.

For close to four years Piedmont Virginia Community College has used its viticulture and enology programs to school students in the ways of winemaking.

Lauren Cartwright experienced a smooth transition from high school to college. Her secret is to always keep the eyes on the prize: graduation.

Being a mother is already a full-time job. But one student at John Tyler Community College is also juggling a part-time job and a full-class load at the same time.

Some students at John Tyler Community College are drawn by the opportunity to start their college careers over – in an environment that lends a hand to everyone.

Students at Richmond colleges have to be creative to meet the financial and time-consuming challenges of transportation around their campuses.

After the shooting at Virginia Teach, Richmond area colleges and universities have revamped their safety policies and procedures.

The universities and colleges in the Richmond area offer students a variety of choices, including some of the state’s best and largest institutions of higher education.

When college students’ spending habits collide with newly found freedom and a lack of funds, the financial stress can end a college career before it really started.

Many college freshmen are hesitant to approach new people. But breaking the ice with peers is not that difficult. All of them are in the same boat.

J. Sargeant Reynolds and John Tyler community college offer training for professionals, to acquire new skills needed on their jobs and enhance their careers.