India, March 21 -- When state and tuition funding are combined, Mason receives more than $6,000 less per in-state student compared to the mean of its five doctoral peer institutions in the commonwealth. Mason is the largest and most diverse public four-year university in Virginia, and Washington emphasized its role as an innovation leader in the Washington, D.C., corridor, one of the nation's major economic hubs.

"It's incredibly important that the most technically rich and savvy region in the state have a major research institution that is supported, and supported at a high level," Washington said during his presentation to SCHEV members on Tuesday morning in Merten Hall at the Fairfax Campus. "Not just the state depends on it. The coun...