This is a summary of the 120 bills and resolutions related to higher education and passed by the 1996 session of the Virginia General Assembly. Bills address issues affecting all of Virginia higher education as well as those specifically affecting the Council of Higher Education. Brief summaries of each bill follow a listing of all the higher education bills passed. The summaries are grouped into the following categories: Academic & Student Issues; Bonds, Budgets, and Procurement Issues; Councils, Boards, and Commissions; Decentralization; Technology; Tuition and Financial Aid Issues; and Other. There are also summaries of 21 education-related bills and resolutions that failed, 17 bills that were carried over to the 1997 Session, and 1996 studies and reports pertaining to higher education organized into those from the Appropriations Act and those from bills and resolutions. Next, 1996-1998 appropriations are summarized including operating budget appropriations and capital outlay appropriations. Much of the document is an appendix which contains: a summary of 1996 legislative action, a list of all higher education-related legislation, a list of legislators sponsoring this legislation, the 1996 legislative summary, and nine appropriations and capital outlay tables. (MAH)