                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

SHORT TITLE; OBJECTIVE; PURPOSES (§ 23.1-301)

A. This chapter may be cited as the &#8220;Preparing for the Top Jobs of the
21st Century: The Virginia Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2011,&#8221; the
&#8220;Top Jobs Act,&#8221; or &#8220;TJ21.&#8221;

B. The objective of this chapter is to fuel strong economic growth in the
Commonwealth and prepare Virginians for the top job opportunities in the
knowledge-driven economy of the 21st century by establishing a long-term
commitment, policy, and framework for sustained investment and innovation that
will (i) enable the Commonwealth to build upon the strengths of its excellent
higher education system and achieve national and international leadership in
college degree attainment and personal income and (ii) ensure that these
educational and economic opportunities are accessible and affordable for all
capable and committed Virginia students.

C. In furtherance of the objective set forth in subsection B, the following
purposes shall inform the development and implementation of funding policies,
performance criteria, economic opportunity metrics, and recommendations required
by this chapter:

   1. To ensure an educated workforce in the Commonwealth through a
   public-private higher education system whose hallmarks are instructional
   excellence, affordable access, economic impact, institutional diversity and
   managerial autonomy, cost-efficient operation, technological and pedagogical
   innovation, and reform-based investment;

   2. To take optimal advantage of the demonstrated correlation between higher
   education and economic growth by investing in higher education in a manner
   that will generate economic growth, job creation, personal income growth, and
   revenues generated for state and local government in the Commonwealth;

   3. To (i) place the Commonwealth among the most highly educated states and
   countries by conferring approximately 100,000 cumulative additional
   undergraduate degrees on Virginians between 2011 and 2025, accompanied by a
   comparable percentage increase in privately conferred undergraduate degrees in
   the Commonwealth over the same period and (ii) achieve this purpose by
   expanding enrollment of Virginians at public institutions of higher education
   and private institutions of higher education, improving undergraduate
   graduation and retention rates in the higher education system in the
   Commonwealth, and increasing degree completion by Virginians with partial
   credit toward a college degree, including students with ongoing job and family
   commitments who require access to nontraditional college-level educational
   opportunities;

   4. To enhance personal opportunity and earning power for individual Virginians
   by (i) increasing college degree attainment in the Commonwealth, especially in
   high-demand, high-income fields such as STEM and health care fields and (ii)
   providing information about the economic value and impact of individual degree
   programs by institution;

   5. To promote university-based research that produces outside investment in
   the Commonwealth, fuels economic advances, triggers commercialization of new
   products and processes, fosters the formation of new businesses, leads
   businesses to bring their facilities and jobs to the Commonwealth, and in
   other ways helps place the Commonwealth on the cutting edge of the
   knowledge-driven economy;

   6. To support the national effort to enhance the security and economic
   competitiveness of the United States and secure a leading economic position
   for the Commonwealth through increased research and instruction in STEM and
   related fields that require qualified faculty, appropriate research facilities
   and equipment, public-private and intergovernmental collaboration, and
   sustained state support;

   7. To preserve and enhance the excellence and cost-efficiency of the
   Commonwealth&#8217;s higher education system through reform-based investment
   that promotes innovative instructional models and pathways to degree
   attainment, including optimal use of physical facilities and instructional
   resources throughout the year, technology-enhanced instruction, sharing of
   instructional resources between colleges, universities, and other
   degree-granting entities in the Commonwealth, increased online learning
   opportunities for nontraditional students, improved rate and pace of degree
   completion, expanded availability of dual enrollment and advanced placement
   options and early college commitment programs, expanded comprehensive
   community college transfer options leading to bachelor&#8217;s degree
   completion, and enhanced college readiness before matriculation;

   8. To realize the potential for enhanced benefits from the Restructured Higher
   Education Financial and Administrative Operations Act (&#xA7; 23.1-1000 et
   seq.) through a sustained commitment to the principles of autonomy,
   accountability, affordable access, and mutual trust and obligation underlying
   the restructuring initiative;

   9. To establish a higher education funding framework and policy that promotes
   stable, predictable, equitable, and adequate funding, facilitates effective
   planning at the institutional and state levels, provides incentives for
   increased enrollment of Virginia students at public institutions of higher
   education and nonprofit private institutions of higher education, provides
   need-based financial aid for low-income and middle-income students and
   families, relieves the upward pressure on tuition associated with loss of
   state support due to economic downturns or other causes, and provides
   financial incentives to promote innovation and enhanced economic opportunity
   in furtherance of the objective of this chapter set forth in subsection A; and

   10. To recognize that the unique mission and contributions of each public
   institution of higher education and private institution of higher education is
   consistent with the desire to build upon the strengths of the
   Commonwealth&#8217;s excellent system of higher education, afford these unique
   missions and contributions appropriate safeguards, and allow these attributes
   to inform the development and implementation of funding policies, performance
   criteria, economic opportunity metrics, and recommendations in the furtherance
   of the objective of this chapter set forth in subsection B.

HISTORY: 2011, cc. 828, 869, § 23-38.87:10; 2016, c. 588; 2017, c. 314.