Authority: §§ 23-91.20 through 23-91.23, Code of Virginia.

A. This Item includes general and nongeneral fund appropriations to support institutional initiatives that help meet statewide goals described in the Restructured Higher Education Financial and Administrative Operations Act of 2005 (Chapters 933 and 945, 2005 Acts of Assembly).

B. The software engineering curriculum being established to insure success of recent economic development projects in Southwest Virginia, shall be considered on its merits by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and shall not be dependent on funding by the Commonwealth.

C. As Virginia's public colleges and universities approach full funding of the base adequacy guidelines and as the General Assembly strives to fully fund the general fund share of the base adequacy guidelines, these funds are provided with the intent that, in exercising their authority to set tuition and fees, the Board of Visitors shall take into consideration the impact of escalating college costs for Virginia students and families.  In accordance with the cost-sharing goals set forth in § 4-2.01 b. of this act, the Board of Visitors is encouraged to limit increases on tuition and mandatory educational and general fees for in-state, undergraduate students to the extent possible.

D. Out of this appropriation, $233,358 the first year and $233,358 the second year from the general fund and $138,577 the first year and $138,577 the second year from nongeneral funds are designated to facilitate the technical training programs for the Northrop Grumman state backup data center.

E. The appropriation for the fund source Higher Education Operating in this Item shall be considered a sum sufficient appropriation, which is an estimate of the amount of revenues to be collected for the educational and general program under the terms of the management agreement between the University of Virginia and the Commonwealth, as set forth in Chapters 933 and 943, of the 2006 Acts of Assembly.

F.1. Out of this appropriation, $146,268 each year from the general fund is designated for base operating support.

2.  Out of this appropriation, $266,537 each year from the general fund is designated to address the projected growth in transfer students and efforts to improve retention and graduation through the Early Alert program.

G.1. Out of this appropriation, $475,641 each year from the general fund is designated to achieve the goals of the six-year academic plan submitted by the University of Virginia at Wise in the fall 2011.  The University of Virginia at Wise shall utilize these funds to implement its Science Consortium initiative.

2. The University of Virginia at Wise shall reallocate $170,935 first year and $227,913 $569,783 the second year from current educational and general program funds either to support the initiatives identified in paragraph G.1. and / or to address programs and strategies that serve to advance the objectives of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2011.

H.  Out of this appropriation, $275,000 each year from the general fund is designated to support the University of Virginia's College at Wise Scholars program to increase recruitment and retention of students from the service region especially in STEM-related programs.

I. Out of this appropriation, $80,761 the second year from the general fund is designated to supplement the original funding allocations provided to higher education in support of the goals of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2011 and the institution's six-year plan.  The methodologies used to allocate this supplemental funding are not in lieu of finalizing and implementing a long-term approach for distributing future funding provided to higher education institutions.  It is anticipated that any future funding will approximate the percentage of funding allocated for base operating costs (30 percent), financial aid (10 percent), degree incentives (16 percent), enrollment growth (24 percent), and initiatives/research (20 percent) in the 2012 Appropriation Act.