Automize the attendence system

i have a pjt idea to automize the attendence system in my college and wanna do this as my final year project.
For this my plan is to make a handheld microcontroller based device with a small display unit and two switches.
The device has the list of students (say 100) of that class. using 0ne switch we can scroll through the names
and second switch to mark absence .. the device, once finished entering data, will transmit to a server room.
The data need to be stored in a database there. using visual basic or such program i need to analyse the data.
Like the percentage of attendence of a particular student etc. and from the database this need to be uploaded
to the college website, such that any parent after login can infer about the attendence of his ward

pls help me with the the microcontroller to be used, transmission technique to be followed.

And sorry for my bad english and pls help me

I would opt for the simplist transmission available. If you can use RS-232, then I would use that. Then I would look at RS485. Only if these are not available, then I'd look at USB. The first two of these protocals can be implement by most any of the usual microcontrolles. For USB, you'll probably need an add on board. There are development systems that integrate MC's and communication chips, but they usually cost a few dollars.

Thankyou Brownout for your valuable reply,i will surely look for RS-232 ,and please be there for my future queries

Can any body suggest an effective method for wireless transmission , which has a range about 100mts

XBee has long range wireless units for about $30US.