Now in its third year of implementation, the Pell Initiative for Virginia (PIV) is a natural longitudinal experiment to alter both institutional and student behavior to increase the enrollment and retention of Pell-eligible students at Virginia’s institutions of higher education. Since 2023, the General Assembly of Virginia has appropriated a total of $112.5 million toward the initiative, designating the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) as its administrating agency.

Chapter 725 of the 2025 Session of the General Assembly outlines SCHEV’s responsibilities under PIV:

“The Council shall establish eligibility criteria, evaluate proposals, determine award sizes, establish performance outcomes and monitor performance in consultation with staff from the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees, the Office of the Secretary of Education, and the Department of Planning and Budget. […] The Council shall report periodically on activities related to this initiative and make recommendations for any potential future support to institutions that successfully meet their defined outcomes, Additionally, by November 1 of each year within the performance period of any awarded institutional grant, the Council shall report to the Chairs of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees and the Secretary of Education on the outcomes and effectiveness of the awarded funds."

The following presents a review of activities undertaken both by SCHEV and the 17 public two- and four-year institutions in FY 2025, year two of PIV. In addition to an overview of the program’s history and its development between years one and two, this report outlines SCHEV’s administrative activities and summarizes spending, performance data and narratives submitted by each participating institution, select supplemental information to the FY 2024 Report and goals set forth for FY 2026 and the remainder of the initiative.

While FY 2025 represents the second year of appropriations and grants awarded under PIV, it represents the first full year of program implementation for several institutions due to a combination of factors, including the staggered distribution of award funds in year one and the resulting challenges this imposed in implementing certain interventions. FY 2025 also marks the first year in which at least some Virginia institutions, previously insulated from the impacts of a declining population of U.S. high school graduates, have begun to see an effect in their Fall census figures. SCHEV has accounted for both of these factors in its broader analysis of the degree of variation in program effectiveness across institutions this past year. However, SCHEV also has found interventions whose design, implementation or goals have demonstrated minimal effectiveness.

Over the course of FY 2025 and using observations from FY 2024, SCHEV developed a more rigorous assessment process and introduced a universal model for institutions to expand the scope of PIV’s intended impact beyond treatment groups. Staff intensified collaboration with team leaders at each institution to provide program guidance and technical support, as well as to establish mutually agreed-upon goals and targets by which to measure short- and long-term progress beginning in FY 2026. The summary section of this report includes the overarching goals of each institution for additional context.

As the initiative progresses toward the conclusion of its first round of four-year awards, set to expire June 30, 2026, SCHEV has begun working with institutions to refine future intervention plans, narrowing the scope of some activities and focusing resources away from less impactful efforts where appropriate. For FY 2026 and the out-years, SCHEV has shifted to an award model that, when paired with the implementation of defined goals and the findings of institution-wide barrier reviews, will allow team leads to scale up more effective treatments while phasing out less effective ones. The conclusion of this report outlines next steps in these efforts.