Some student leaders who sit on university governing boards are intimidated by powerful, aging, civic figures dominating those panels. The youths keep their heads down and say little. But Jason Parsons from Boone County, Student Government Association president at West Virginia University, seems refreshingly brave.

A junior from Seth, Parsons is waging a crusade to halt rapid escalation of tuition costs that force some university students to drop out, take extra jobs, or return home to attend community colleges. He wants state leaders to freeze tuition rates, which climbed 8 percent last spring and 5.5 percent the year before. He's even organizing university student leaders in several states to petition Congress for more financial aid.

Parsons previously battled substandard student housing in Morgantown, launched an on-line WVU information directory and created a student-police partnership to improve campus safety. We don't know whether he'll defeat rising costs, but we admire his spunk.

A junior from Seth, Parsons is waging a crusade to halt rapid escalation of tuition costs that force some university students to drop out, take extra jobs, or return home to attend community colleges. He wants state leaders to freeze tuition rates, which climbed 8 percent last spring and 5.5 percent the year before. He's even organizing university student leaders in several states to petition Congress for more financial aid.

Parsons previously battled substandard student housing in Morgantown, launched an on-line WVU information directory and created a student-police partnership to improve campus safety. We don't know whether he'll defeat rising costs, but we admire his spunk.