RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia General Assembly voted Thursday to roll back cuts to a popular tuition waiver program for military families, resolving a self-inflicted political crisis and putting off a serious budget debate until next year.

Meeting in a special session just to take up the topic, the House of Delegates and state Senate each agreed unanimously to fully restore the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Program, which offers free tuition at public institutions of higher learning for the families of veterans injured or killed in the line of duty. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) traveled back to Richmond on Thursday from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee so he could sign the measures into law, drawing applause from the convention’s Virginia delegation when he informed them of his plans at a breakfast.

“This is a clean repeal,” Del. Luke Torian (D-Prince William), the chairman of House Appropriations who sponsored the bill in the House, said in introducing the measure on the floor. With several groups in Richmond now studying how to resolve the program’s long-term budget impact, “we hope to have a product that we all can vote on in the 2025 session,” Torian added in an interview with The Washington Post.

The state budget passed earlier this year contained language that sharply curtailed the program, which has ballooned in cost since being expanded over the past few years. Thursday’s votes set aside $45 million a year over the next two years to help colleges and universities deal with the expense, on top of $20 million per year that was already included in the budget.

Started in the 1930s to benefit the families of soldiers wounded in World War I, the VMSDP had expanded to include residents of other states and relatives of service members with non-combat-related disabilities, and to apply to graduate degrees. It grew in cost from $12 million in 2019 to more than $65 million last year, with colleges and universities having to pick up the tab without extra funding from the state.

The budget passed earlier this year would have restricted the program to Virginia residents seeking undergraduate degrees and required families to use federal aid — such as Pell Grants — before tapping into the state program.

Military families and their advocates protested the changes, setting off a massive wave of political backtracking in a state that prides itself on having one of the nation’s biggest concentrations of active duty and retired military residents. Youngkin, whose administration initially sought the cutbacks, appointed a task force to study the issue, then called on lawmakers to go ahead and reinstate the waivers.

House Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) vowed that delegates would return to Richmond and undo the cuts, which the House did on June 28. But the state Senate — also controlled by Democrats — had other ideas. Citing the growth in costs, Senate leadership, spearheaded by Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), sought to preserve some restrictions.

But after summoning senators back to Richmond twice over the past few weeks, Democratic leaders were unable to reach a deal with Republicans on how to handle the issue — despite the fact that all sides agreed it needed fixing. Finally, earlier this month, the House, Senate and governor all agreed on the deal that played out Thursday.

All sides also agreed that the issue needs a long-term fix so the program doesn’t grow out of control. Youngkin’s task force is expected to recommend changes later this year, as is a task force appointed by the Senate. The legislature’s in-house audit arm, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, is also studying how to preserve VMSDP in a sustainable way. Lawmakers said they would take the issue up again in the General Assembly regular session in January.

“We will keep our word, keep our commitment to these families,” Scott said in an interview with The Washington Post. He added that he hopes to use input from veterans and their families to fashion “a solution that puts us on the path that keeps this program moving … so it’s long-term sustainable.”

“I’m glad we were able to get it done,” House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) said after the House completed its vote. “It took too long to get it done. I think everybody in the House seemed to be singing from the same sheet of music and the Senate finally came to their senses.”

In the Senate, Republicans on the floor celebrated the agreement. Sen. Tara Durant (R-Stafford), however, expressed disappointment that it had taken multiple special sessions to resolve.

“I’ve heard a lot of people stress how they feel that it’s become so expensive to respect those who have served our country,” she said on the floor. “That is deeply hurtful.”

Democrats emphasized that the program still needed further evaluation. Sen. Barbara A. Favola (D-Arlington) posed questions about the benefits of the program and how colleges were paying for it, while Senate Majority Leader Scott A. Surovell (D-Fairfax) pushed back on Durant’s remarks.

“There’s not a single person on this side of the aisle who said veterans are too expensive for anything. The debate from the very beginning has not been expense, it has been who’s going to pay,” Surovell said on the floor. “The reality is that this program had become so successful that we now had students that were receiving Pell grants, students on financial aid, students who were taking out loans to pay for their education, that were funding this program instead of the taxpayer.”

Dozens of people from military families attended Thursday’s session. Katie Demko, 54, of Woodbridge, said it was frustrating to watch the issue play out in such a divisive and political manner. Demko said she understood that changes to the program need to be made for it to last, but wanted a clearer process from the start. Her children, a rising high school senior and a junior at Virginia Tech, are eligible for benefits under the program.

“I feel like they’ve corrected what they did wrong. But, you know, we still have a long way to go,” Demko said.

Many of the families had traveled to Richmond multiple times this year to try and get the situation resolved.

“If we’d been listened to back in February, it would’ve been so much easier,” said Caitlin Goodale-Porter of Stafford County, an Army and Coast Guard veteran who has helped organize the lobbying effort. “This was a wonderful program, I’m glad to have it back, but I’m not sure we’ll ever trust that it won’t be taken away again.”

Laura Vozzella in Milwaukee contributed to this report.