About 50 students went to Richmond on “Hokie Day” February 2 to lobby against a proposal to transfer $19 million in funds designated for Virginia’s public universities in the next two years. Students were organized by Virginia21, a non-profit higher education advocacy group that works in the state assembly.

The proposal, filed by former governor Tim Kaine, would move money from student fees in the state’s higher education fund, which assists public universities in Virginia, to the state’s general fund.

The amendment would cut $600,000 from Virginia Tech’s funding and roughly 60 percent of the transferred funds would affect the University of Virginia, James Madison University, George Mason University and Radford University.

Kaine’s office said the shifting of funds would most likely cause universities to raise tuition in this biennium.

Some students, such as SGA president Brandon Carroll, plan to lobby against current Gov. Bob McDonnell’s support of the amendment, which Caroll is calling "a reverse tax on students.”

“The state has a $4 billion deficit and they refused to raise taxes,” Caroll said. “So they’re taxing students.”

The Jan. 11 amendment includes a transfer of $18.8 million in fiscal year 2011, representing 5 percent of the money that goes to dorms, dining services, and other student life programs.

“The state makes $1.39 on the dollar for every dollar they invest in higher education,” Carroll said. “That’s a 39 percent return on their investment for every student. If that’s not an incentive for higher education, I don’t know what is.”


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More on “Hokie Day” from the Collegiate Times at Virginia Tech University