Authority: Title 23.1, Chapter 25, Code of Virginia.

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

B. 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.

C. Resources determined by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to be uniquely military shall be excluded from the base adequacy funding guidelines.

D. 1. Out of this appropriation, $395,740 the first year and $395,740 the second year from the general fund is designated to address increased degree production in Data Science and Technology, Science and Engineering, Healthcare, and Education.

2. Degree production shall be measured for Bachelors, Masters, Doctorates and First Professional awards as follows:

a. Data Science and Technology awards shall be based on completion data contained in the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, C-16 completion report;

b. Science and Engineering awards shall be based on completion data contained in the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), C-1 A1 completion report for the following programs Biological and Biomedical Science (26), Engineering (14) less those already counted in paragraph 2 a., Engineering Technologies (15), and Physical Sciences (40);

c. Healthcare awards shall be based on completion data contained in the SCHEV C-1 A1 completion report for the Health Professions and Related Programs (51); and

d. Education awards shall be based on completion data contained in the SCHEV C-1 A1 completion report for the Education Programs (13).

3. Virginia Military Institute is expected to maintain increases in:

a. Data Science and Technology awards of 5 annually over the base year.

b. Science and Engineering awards of 5 annually over the base year.

c. The 2016-17 year will serve as the base year for these purposes.

4. SCHEV shall report on the progress toward these goals to the Chairs of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees annually.

E. The 4-VA, a public-private partnership among George Mason University, James Madison University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Old Dominion University, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Commonwealth University, the College of William and Mary, and CISCO Systems, Inc., utilizes emerging technologies to promote collaboration and resource sharing to increase access, reduce time to graduation and reduce unit cost while maintaining and enhancing quality. Instructional talent across the eight institutions is leveraged in the delivery of programs in foreign languages, science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The 4-VA Management Board can expand this partnership to additional institutions as appropriate to meet the goals of the 4-VA initiative. It is expected that funding will be pooled by the management board as required to support continuing efforts of the 4-VA priorities and projects.