A massive homework assignment completed by Virginia college students is now in the hands of state lawmakers.
More than 100 public college students - including several from Charlottesville - joined Governor Bob McDonnell on the steps of the state Capitol Thursday. They brought along 10,000 signatures asking lawmakers to approve the governor's budget items aimed at reducing tuition rates.
"This year it's about the money," McDonnell said. "A decade of disinvestment, a debt averaging $23,000 per student, tuition's doubling every ten years. We can't do it."
"If what we're doing here today can make it easier for someone in my position in 10, 20 years, it will certainly be worth my time here," UVA engineering student Jason Rowe said.
McDonnell wants an extra $230 million for public colleges and universities, along with a change in how that money's dispersed. He also wants public institutions to streamline administrative costs, and transfer between 3 and 5 percent of their operating budgets to programs that will reduce tuition rates.
