Virginia Tech President Tim Sands addresses affordable housing needs in the State of the University Address
BLACKSBURG, Va. (WFXR) — On Wednesday, Feb. 7, Virginia Tech President Tim Sands gave his eighth “State of the University” address since joining the university. During the address, President Sands said that Virginia Tech has grown in multiple ways, but had been limited in some ways due to the increasing need for infrastructure and housing.
While new infrastructure is set to open by the end of the year, the need to keep its students capped at 30,000 still exists because of housing. Even with over 52,000 applying this year, he says they’ll only be accepting a little over 7,000.
“I anticipate that it will be another four years before we have enough housing available both on campus and off campus to allow us to have the option of growing,” shared Sands.
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Sands said the university is working on more housing, including their student life village project. It will include four phases. Phase one alone will see 600 beds added to the campus, however, he says it will take many years to complete.
Blacksburg’s Mayor Leslie Hager-Smith recently expressed concern about the university’s growth, saying the school needs to do more to take the pressure of its growth off the town.
When asked about those comments, the president says he hopes to have bigger conversations and undergo a “shared vision exercise” to help.
“We communicate a lot. We have conversations almost every day between people in the town of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech, and the surrounding communities in Christiansburg and Montgomery County. But having conversations is different than sitting in a room and committing to a process, and I’m hoping that’s the next step,” said Sands. “Been talking with the mayor and other leaders in the region for the last year about doing this, and we’re ready to go. We’re going to be hopefully announcing something, we have a few more conversations in the coming weeks. But I’m excited about it, it worked in my prior institution. I think it will work here, maybe even better, and get us on a track where we don’t have a misunderstanding of where we’re headed.”
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But it wasn’t all housing and infrastructure.
Sands addressed other areas of growth like doubling fundraising goals, welcoming new faculty, and having the resources to compete on a global scale. Moving forward, he says two priorities of the upcoming year are attaining more competitive global rankings and maintaining affordability for students.
For the latter, the president said the university talked with students with lower financial backgrounds, noting that with them having to work full or part-time jobs to afford college, they often didn’t get time or resources to experience certain things that could further their career like research, internship or study abroad opportunities.
“We think there are about 5,500 on-campus Virginia resident students who are not getting the support they need. Most of them will graduate, that’s not the issue. It’s are they ready to launch, and the answer is often no and we need to fix that,” explained Sands.
That brought about the Virginia Tech Advantage Program to help students from lower means be able to afford career-boosting experiences. Within the next few years, the university hopes to raise $500 million to support the program.
“All those things, take money and take time. And so getting rid of some of that opportunity cost, giving all of our students the opportunity to have a true Virginia Tech experience,” Sands explained.
This year marks a decade since Tim Sands has been with the university. Looking at the past, Sands recalled in 2014, his installation address revealed two emerging priorities for the university: having the resources to compete on a global stage and expanding access to students who otherwise would not be able to go to the university.
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He said the university has made waves in both priorities with it placing 97th in the world in impact rankings and achieving its goal of having 40% of its student population coming from underrepresentative communities.
Looking toward the future, the Innovation Campus that’s in Alexandria is expected to open in the next year. He said the university does expect to grow in graduate numbers due to that campus and graduate buildings in larger areas like Roanoke and Washington D.C.
Sands also addressed the upcoming year which features the presidential election and ongoing global conflicts.
“We will continue to support free expression and academic freedom while maintaining our stand against anti-Semitism, Islamaphobia, or any actions of discrimination against members of our community,” said Sands.
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