SACRAMENTO, Calif – Fresno City College students joined thousands of community college, University of California and California State University students today to rally at the State Capitol to improve the budget outlook for higher education.

The march, named March in March, is aimed at provoking a conversation about budget cuts to California’s higher education system.

Meanwhile, rumors are circulating that another group of college students are planning to occupy the Capitol, in an Occupy Wall Street fashion.

8:40 a.m.: ASG President Cindy Quiralte and Legislative Vice President Nathan Alonzo said they expected to to pass on students’ concerns to elected officials.

“Students ask the question: ‘How valuable is our education?’ We’re going to shout it out loud and clear to the people making the decisions that education should be valued,” Quiralte said.

“I think it is really easy people for the people voting on these issues to remove themselves from the situation,” Alonzo said. “But, one time, they were in our shoes as students. One of our representatives [Henry T. Perea] went to Fresno City College.”

10:05 a.m.: A few thousand students from UCs, CSUs and California Community Colleges began their march at 10:00 a.m., heading toward the Capitol Building on Fifth Street.

11:45 a.m.: Marchers arrived at the Capitol near O Street and listened to the stories and problems of other students from the UCs, CSUs and community colleges. Assembly speaker John Perez and Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg spoke to the crowd about their own initiatives to improve students’ lives — a tax proposal proposed by Perez, and an open source textbook proposal by Steinberg — which are working their way through the state legislature.

During his own appearance at the Capitol steps rally, Lt. Gov Gavin Newsom reiterated his support for Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax increase ballot initiative, one of three attempting to make the June ballot.