@HokieCrazy Yes, this is affecting some incoming freshmen. It was an incoming freshman parent who initially posted the screen shot. It’s shocking that they would do this to kids who are new to college, but as Shenval said, maybe they are chalking it up to summer melt. Now I’m kind of glad my rising freshman chose elsewhere and that my older one is already living off campus 
This reflects very badly on the VT administration. Last year I can understand how VT was blindsided by the extra influx of freshmen. This year in a pandemic that has been ongoing for months, no it’s unacceptable. The VT president gives a message today and makes no indication this is coming. So now after VT has met its freshmen number it tells freshmen who have no other college options that their “guaranteed” on campus housing is longer in effect. Additionally, last year VT did the right thing and found off campus housing for the affected students. So far it appears that VT is saying this year - we are very sorry but you are on your own. I am not aware of any other major public university who has dropped the ball like this two years in a row.
@trf215 I agree. It’s disappointing. The current leadership has a reputation for ignoring the needs of undergraduates for bigger, shinier things. They also make decisions unilaterally, without collaboration with the town and other affected entities. When Sands became president he announced publicly that he wanted to drastically increase the number of undergraduates. Well, he has, but they always act like it wasn’t intentional and don’t take responsibility. As we know, this year they continued to pull off the waitlist when they had to have known they wouldn’t be able to house everyone. That information should have been communicated at the very least to the kids pulled off the waitlist in recent weeks.
I’m an incoming freshman, and I got an email in the morning saying that Tech was not able to offer me on-campus housing. But around 9PM today, I got email saying that they were able to offer on-campus housing.
@“positive patracia” Thank goodness, I’m glad it worked out for you.
@trf215 Any updates on your son’s housing situation? Some students got a follow up email last night offering them housing after all, but based on comments I’ve seen it seems to be people who jumped on the housing waitlist right away. I hope it worked out for a lot of kids.
Our son dodged the bullet and has on campus housing. Apparently VT received tremendous blowback on this and it made a difference. Many freshmen students who were waitlisted for housing yesterday have been pulled off the list and now have on campus housing.
No doubt this was handled poorly by VT and it looks like VT is doing a mad scramble to rectify it.
I also should mention that an off campus student cannot get a dining plan and will only be able to purchase food on campus at food trucks and a few limited eateries like Subways.
Wow - watching this as my S21 is very interested in VT for next year.
I appreciate updates from everyone on how VT ends up handling this. Huge black eye to kick freshmen off campus after they’ve committed. If they have to de-densify the dorms, they should kick off upperclassmen who at least have a clue on where to go and how college works. And the college should take responsibility for finding off campus housing for students they kick off campus, like they did last year. And no dining plan? What??
Two years in a row of this kind of mess is not a good look. . .
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Where did you see this? I don’t see anything posted under the Dining section of the website about this.
Here you go.
Here you go Hokie Family! Whew! Dining FAQs are live at https://vt.edu/ready/faq/student-faq.html and as follows:
Q: Will dining plans be available to off-campus students, including those students not approved for on-campus housing?
A: Unfortunately, we are not able to accommodate both on-campus and off-campus students while maintaining physical distancing and public safety guidelines for students and our staff. Therefore, we will not be offering the sale of new dining plans to off-campus students for the fall semester under the current regulations. If an off-campus student is interested in the purchase of an off-campus dining plan they can add themselves to the Dining Plan Waitlist in the Dining Plans section of StarRez. Dining will contact students on the waitlist if they are able to offer an off-campus dining plan option in the future.
Q: If my dining plan was rolled over into the fall, but I’m an off-campus student now, can I still use my remaining dining plan balance?
A: Yes – if you rolled over your plan to Fall 2020, you will be able to use your remaining Flex Dollars, Commuter Cash, Flex additions and Dining Dollars at available dining facilities. You will not be able to add any additional money to your account, however. Any remaining balances must be used during the Fall 2020 semester.
Q: What if I am living off-campus and do not want to use the Flex dollars that were rolled over?
A: If you are living off-campus and have a FLEX roll-over balance that you do not plan to use, you may request a refund of that balance prior to August 1. This refund will just be for the FLEX balance and does not include administrative fees. Please contact hokiepassport@vt.edu with your Virginia Tech email account to request a rebate on your rollover account from Spring 2020. Rebates should be processed 1-2 weeks from the time of request. Balances can be located at www.hokiepassport.vt.edu
Q: Will Fall 2020 dining plans be canceled automatically for off-campus students?
A: Fall 2020 dining plans for off-campus students will be canceled automatically in StarRez. Students do not need to take any further action at this time.
Q: Will dining facilities be accepting debit or credit cards to purchase food?
A: We will not be accepting debit/credit at the start of the semester as we work to better understand how our processes will change to accommodate physical distancing and other safety measures.
Q: If I do not have a dining plan, is there any place where can I get food while I’m on campus?
A: We will have food trucks on campus for students to use credit/debit or cash to purchase food. The coffee vendor in Newman Library will be open, as well as Subway and Seattle Best in Johnston Student Center.
Appears they are backtracking on the freshman being kicked off part. No dining plans for off campus students (should be great for helping Blacksburg restaurants recover). They want to limit the number of students in the dining halls. Many students though will have a good portion of dining plan for Fall semester because they have all the roll over dollars from last year (my son between the roll overs for both semesters last year pretty much has a full plan for the fall).
So you will have a lot of students off campus with dining money from last year they will be bleeding off all semester (so not an extreme lowering of number of students eating on campus). It will have a major effect on Spring Semester as all of those roll overs will be gone - so I would expect to see some dining plans allowed for off campus students in the spring.
VT’s lack of available on-campus rooms always makes it a challenge. The new dorm coming on line next year should hopefully fix the issue.
In order:
I’m just spitballing here, but it seems possible that the freshmen who were told their housing was not confirmed/committed and asked to put in a waitlist request may not have signed their housing contract yet? Matriculation fee (“committed”) and housing contract are not one in the same.
There are few upperclassmen who live on campus, except for RA’s. members of certain LLC’s, and transfer students. Earlier this spring it seemed that transfer housing was being limited more so than in prior years.
It’s not a “no dining plan” situation. Returning students who live off-campus are not able to purchase a dining plan for the fall semester. Frankly, there’s nearly no reason for an off-campus student to have a full dining plan - the better deal for them if they desire to eat on campus is to use dining dollars. Their rollover balance from Spring 2020 is usable, whether they live in campus or off.
My son has about $590 in flex dollars rolled over from last year. This is actually a great deal being able to use the roll over and not buying a dining plan. He will struggle to use the whole $590 lvinging off campus - - I told him he needs to go for a lot of steak and lobster dinners next semester.
Hopefully come Spring Semester we will be able to go to buying Dining Dollars (which you can’t for Fall if someone wanted to in order to limit customers).
Hopefully by December (actually I’m hoping for October/November so this year can finish normal) they can have some of these fast tracked treatments and even vaccines available so the most vulnerable can be protected and these kids get to have a normal Spring Semester finally.
I know there is a lot of fingerpointing at some VT missteps - but every college is scrambling right now to fit all the pieces together (this isn’t a VT specific issue). I’m sure policies are going to change weekly/monthly as administrations adjust to current situations.
It is a “no dining plan” situation for freshmen. I don’t know how many freshmen are affected by this but it is unfair to them as they unfamiliar with college life and the VT system. For students who know the ropes, yeah it’s not a big deal.
Evidently about 800 students had their housing yanked on Monday, but VT quickly found space again for 300 of them. I agree with @cbl1 , I think the backlash was intense and they are scrambling. That leaves about 500 students who had housing contracts but now suddenly have no spot on campus. All of these students had paid their housing deposit. (the ones who didn’t pay a housing deposit were denied outright, no waiting list option)
As for dining, only on-campus students will be allowed to buy dining plans and only dining plan holders will be able to eat at campus dining halls. The only exception is for the kids who rolled over flex dollars from dining plans this past year, and I think for any dining dollars that are rolled over (but I’m seeing conflicting information as to whether dining dollars will be allowed at all). Those exception situations only apply in the fall. For the spring only on-campus students with dining plans will be allowed to buy food from dining halls. (@trf215 and @HokieCrazy your sons will have dining plans since they have secured housing on campus)
Students will not be allowed to add any new money to dining dollars. Campus food options for off-campus students will be credit/debit payment at food trucks and a couple of spots (coffee vendor in Newman Library, Subway and Seattle Best in Johnston Student Center). Also, they can add money to Hokie Passport, which is accepted by a lot of restaurants near campus.
The way all of this is rolling out has been very messy. Part of it is confusion over terminology, especially for new students (dining plan/rollover/dining dollars/flex dollars/etc.), but part of it is unclear or even lacking information. Of course every university is grappling with how to deal with opening their campuses, but the dropping of housing contracts has really surprised me.
@rbc2018 I spoke with Hokiepassport yesterday re: dining dollars and was told verbally and directed to the FAQ’s section for students (www.vt.edu/ready) that dining dollar rollovers would be honored this fall. If I may ask, what was the source of the information re: off campus students would not be able to dine on campus at all in spring? That contradicts what I was told yesterday.
@trf215 I suspect we’ll see 2 things. One, the number of freshmen who end up off campus involuntarily will turn out to be small and the university will ultimately activate their dining plans. Given a little more time I think that’s how it will likely shake out.
I’m finding that the issue with the rollout has a lot to do with individual departments drafting the information, with no centralized vetting/proofreading. Dining services does a hell of a good job, but their director probably isn’t the optimal person for writing official policy documents.
@rbc2018 – Tks for this update. I read the article and it looks like the they have prioritized first-years in getting them back into on campus housing. Curious how many of the 500 remaining students whose contracts were cancelled are first-years.
I know this is all hard for colleges, but to start college with no on campus housing or even on campus dining seems rough! Maybe summer melt will free up some more rooms
I’ll be curious if other universities will limit dining to on campus/rollover $$ students – it’s not something I’ve seen mentioned elsewhere. Most are planning ‘grab and go’ meals in order to ensure social distancing.
I guess off campus students will be packing some lunches – they’ll save $$ at least.
Here is an excerpt from the FAQ and I was also following several discussions about this elsewhere. Any remaining balances (plural, so covers those things listed below) must be used during the Fall 2020 semester. I agree with whoever said that the guidelines seem to be slapped together from different offices on campus.
I’m really wondering where students are going to hang out/study between classes when they are on campus. Dining halls are definitely out of the question, I just wonder how libraries and common areas are going to be set up and/or restricted.
Q: If my dining plan was rolled over into the fall, but I’m an off-campus student now, can I still use my remaining dining plan balance?
A: Yes – if you rolled over your plan to Fall 2020, you will be able to use your remaining Flex Dollars, Commuter Cash, Flex additions and Dining Dollars at available dining facilities. You will not be able to add any additional money to your account, however. Any remaining balances must be used during the Fall 2020 semester.
Also, I’m happy that they had a change of heart and are trying to accommodate freshmen on campus. This doesn’t take away from the fact that 500 students are now scrambling for housing when they had a signed contract and thought they were all set. Student housing in town simply does not have anything close to 500 vacant bedrooms and VT isn’t going to use the hotels like they did last year. The Roanoke Times quoted someone from VT as saying that they are working with the town to find solutions. This isn’t true. They’ve made all decisions unilaterally.
I’m not sure its a change of heart. I think their intent has always been to get these freshman on-campus. I think they will end up getting the majority of them back on campus between a typical summer melt with the addition of many students deciding to take a deferral of enrollment to either Spring or next Fall, which I’m seeing quite a few on Facebook.
I have a question, though. I thought when you bought a plan, you just got a balance of Flex Dollars and when you went to the dining hall it just cost you a small amount to eat there from your Flex Dollars. That’s what I thought I read when I bought the plan. So, what is the difference between Flex Dollars and Dining Dollars? I understand the difference between having a plan vs. not having on for on-campus and off-campus, but I hadn’t seen Dining Dollars mentioned.