VCCS Incentive Scholarships (language only)

Item 163 #1h

Language
Page 139, after line 37, insert:
"Incentive Scholarships (10820) $0 $0".
Page 139, after line 39, insert:
"A.1. Effective July 1, 1998, community college students who are Virginia residents shall receive Incentive Scholarships for their second year of community college education if they achieve a 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale during their first year as full-time community college students in Virginia, and if in their second year they are enrolled as full-time students in a selected technical training program at a Virginia community college.  The amount of the scholarship shall not exceed the total of annual tuition and required fees.
2.   The Virginia Community College System, in consultation with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, shall select each year the technical training programs that will best improve the workforce needs of businesses in the Commonwealth.  The Incentive Scholarships are limited to full-time students enrolled in such programs in their second year who also meet the requires of A.1.
3. Appropriations made for Incentive Scholarships shall be included in the Community College Incentive Fund.  The fund shall also include gifts, donations, grants, bequests and other funds.  The fund shall be a special nonreverting fund established on the books of the Comptroller and interest earned on moneys in the fund shall remain in the fund and be credited to it.  Any balance for Incentive Scholarships at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse, but shall remain in the fund and shall be available for expenditure in the next fiscal year."
4.  Subject to appropriation and subject to enactment by the General Assembly in the 1997 Session of House Bill 1787, the first Incentive Scholarships would be awarded in fiscal year 2000 to students who met the eligibility requirements during fiscal year 1999.

Explanation
(This amendment establishes Incentive Scholarships for full-time community college students who achieve a grade point average of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale in their first year, consistent with House Bill 1787. The scholarships would be limited to eligible students taking technical training programs that best reflect workforce training needs of businesses in the Commonwealth. The program would go into effect in fiscal year 1999, but the first awards would not be made until fiscal year 2000.)