Tuition-Strapped Students Plead Guilty To Robbery

CINCINNATI -- Two college students say the high cost of tuition led them to rob a bank.

The men pleaded guilty to two charges of aggravated robbery and six charges of kidnapping. They face 20 years in prison when sentenced Dec. 27.

Andrew Butler, 20, a theater major at the University of Toledo, told Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Steve Martin on Monday that tuition increases outpaced his scholarships and financial aid.

Christopher Avery, 22, who was studying engineering at the University of Cincinnati, said he couldn't pay for summer classes after an internship at a grocery store fell through.

"I was strapped for cash," Avery said. "I thought I had nothing to lose."

Tuition at the University of Cincinnati runs about $9,400 a year; University of Toledo costs about $7,000 a year.

Armed with guns and wearing masks, Butler and Avery made off with $130,000 from a crowded Valley Central Savings Bank in suburban Reading on July 17, said Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Brian Goodyear.

An attempt to rob a check-cashing business a day earlier was thwarted when the students couldn't get through the business' security system despite firing four shots at the bullet-resistant glass, Goodyear said.

The men were caught after trying to switch cars. A witness who thought they were acting suspiciously called police.

Both were being held in a county jail without bond.

How To Win $1000 By Writing A Short Poem

Curious Facts - Top 20 Blackest Boy Names

Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)

Free Business Cards

You Want A Cool Domain Name But All The Good Names Are Already Taken? Here Is What You Do.