In an effort to halt higher education budget cuts in Virginia, leaders of student governments from Virginia universities flocked to the State Capitol Thursday to meet with General Assembly members.

Last Thursday was Lobbying Day for Virginia21, a higher education “action-tank,” headquartered in Richmond, VA. Student leaders from all public Virginia universities were invited to the capitol to express their views.

Virginia Tech SGA President Brandon Carroll said state representatives would remember student leaders’ efforts to meet with them.

“They hear so many times from all these different lobbyists on a daily basis,” Carroll said. “They understand that we’re in school. They understand that we have lives, and that we’re driving down here to show them how important this is to us. I think they realize that.”
 
Over 30 student leaders from Virginia universities met in the halls of the General Assembly building to convince lawmakers to prevent further budget cuts in higher education.
 
Student leaders also protested a new tax in former Gov. Tim Kaine’s proposed budget plan that would co-opt 5 percent of student auxiliary fee money from each public university to help balance the state’s deficit. Most of the student lobbyists said they were convinced by legislators that it would not pass in the final budget.
 
“What students need to see, and what we think the legislators have seen, is that it is more of an issue of public trust,” said Steven Jones, executive director of Virginia21.

“The school sends you a bill that says you are paying a $30 computer fee—that is what it should actually go toward. It shouldn’t go to paying down the state deficit.”


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