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Following recommendations from the state’s watchdog agency, Del. M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights, said Thursday he will seek limits on the fees students are charged for athletics at Virginia’s public universities.

The House majority leader said he plans to propose legislation requiring schools to incrementally reduce over five years mandatory fees as a percentage of overall athletic revenue. The exact percentage caps are still being developed, he said.

The caps would be applied differently to Virginia’s Division I, Division II and Division III schools, but would restrict the revenue universities raise from students to support athletic programs.

In a column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Cox cited reports by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission that found non-academic enterprises including athletics, housing and dining are the primary drivers behind escalating college costs.

Mandatory fees unrelated to education represent one-third of total tuition and fees, or about $3,500 a year on average, JLARC said. That is an increase of 99 percent since 2003.

JLARC made its recommendations last month in the last of five reports requested by the General Assembly.