The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors met Tuesday and approved a three percent merit-based pay increase for staff and faculty, beginning in July. Graduate students will also see an increase to their living stipends next year.
Leslie Orellana, a first-generation student about to graduate and the undergraduate representative to the board, told fellow board members her parents worked blue collar jobs after they immigrated to the United States. She added that while she’s proud to be graduating, she hears from many of her classmates that this is a stressful time for many in the Virginia Tech community, as they face student loan debt, rising rents and the high cost of food.
“Many students have also felt isolated, and that their communities are suddenly changing this past year,” Orellana said. “They feel insecure about who to reach out to and how to communicate these feelings of fear, worry and disappointment.”
That theme of uncertainty came up frequently at the Tuesday's meeting. Simon Allen, Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer told the board's Finance and Resource Management Committee that while the university’s revenue for the current year in on track, it’s difficult to predict what next year will bring.
“We’re probably facing more uncertainty over the next 12 months than we have in the past,” Allen said. He added that several factors are at play, including what will happen to federal research funding in the future.
Rachel Miles, faculty representative to the board, said one of her grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services had recently been terminated, and added that many of her colleagues are facing paused or terminated grants too.
“They do not just delay research, they derail the trajectory of research, sometimes stopping it entirely in its tracks,” Miles said. “And they have real life consequences in health, innovations and societal problems.”
Another uncertainty facing the campus community, said Virginia Tech President Tim Sands, is how international students may be impacted by changing immigration policies under the Trump administration.
“I am concerned about the challenges international students will face this fall, with delays in visa processing, and direct and indirect messages they are receiving about the changing US position on attracting top global talent,” Sands said.
International students at Virginia Tech make up 11% of the student population, said Sands.
