Authority: Title 23, Chapter 9.2, Code of Virginia.

A. Out of this appropriation shall be expended an amount estimated at $80,483 from the general fund and $36,130 from nongeneral funds the first year and $80,483 from the general fund and $36,130 from nongeneral funds the second year for the educational telecommunications project to provide graduate engineering education, subject to a plan approved by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

B. Out of this appropriation, $169,174 $289,396 from the general fund and $59,764 in nongeneral funds the first year and $145,484 $172,844 from the general fund and $59,764 in nongeneral funds the second year is estimated for lease payments to support the cost of equipment purchased with the proceeds of bonds issued by the Virginia College Building Authority. The Director of the Department of Planning and Budget shall transfer to the Virginia College Building Authority on July 1, 1998, the amounts in the first year, and on July 1, 1999, the amounts in the second year to support the Authority's debt obligation.

C. This appropriation authorizes Mary Washington College to charge students a technology service fee in conformity with § 4-2.01 c of this act. This appropriation includes $127,340 the first year and $130,719 the second year from nongeneral funds, the unexpended balance of which shall not revert to the general fund in any fiscal year but shall be carried forward on the books of the Department of Accounts and allotted for expenditure each July 1. The fee charged resident undergraduate students each year shall not exceed one percent of the total of tuition and required fees charged in fiscal year 1998, and the amounts appropriated in this Item reflect that policy. The Department of Planning and Budget shall allot technology fee revenues in excess of the amounts appropriated in this Item provided that the revenues are not generated by resident undergraduate students and provided that such revenues reflect a fee that does not exceed three percent of the total of tuition and required fees charged in fiscal year 1998 to nonresident undergraduate students and three percent of the total of tuition and required fees charged in fiscal year 1998 to graduate and professional students.

D. The Department of Personnel and Training is authorized to implement a pilot project for classified employees at Mary Washington College. The pilot program shall develop alternative classifications for specific classes of employees for which the College has difficulty recruiting and retaining staff, due to the regional competitive labor market.