The school's governing body nixed a plan which would have added 1,700 beds of on-campus housing.
BLACKSBURG, Va., April 14, 2025 — Distance: Slusher Hall, zoomed in from afar. Photo: Sam Mostow
By Sam Mostow
April 17, 2025
The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors recently abandoned plans to establish a Student Life Village and renovate Slusher Hall.
The Student Life Village would have utilized part of the on-campus golf course and supported recreation, residential and well-being facilities for the university’s Blacksburg campus. The plan would have resulted in 1,700 additional beds for the student population.
On Nov. 13, 2022, the Board of Visitors adopted a “master plan” to establish the Student Life Village. With its vote on March 25, it reverted back to a previous plan from 2018 and “resolved that all planning and expenditure of funds on the Student Life Village cease immediately.”
“What the board decided about the Student Life Village is that the current board believed that the current plan wasn’t the right plan,” said Mark Owczarski, Virginia Tech’s chief spokesperson and interim vice president of communications and marketing. “So, they said we need a new plan.”
Virginia Tech boasts 27 residence halls which house 9,468 students. A recent census revealed Virginia Tech’s total student population to be 38,857, meaning roughly 24% of students reside in on-campus housing.
“I would say that Virginia Tech needs to invest in its on-campus housing, and there are probably an infinite number of approaches to do that,” Owczarski said.
The Town of Blacksburg has supported plans for the Student Life Village over the years and voiced its opposition to the Board of Visitors’ measure. In a letter to the Board of Visitors, Leslie Hager-Smith, the mayor of Blacksburg, noted the town has added 5,396 beds of off-campus housing to support the rising student population.
Owczarski said the university and its Board of Visitors does not make decisions out of a desire for economic growth.
“We are a nonprofit, so we exist to serve and to educate students,” Owczarski said. “The thing is we offer an education that students are seeking. … In addition to educating students, to help stimulate the economy of Virginia, vis-a-vis providing a skilled, educated workforce necessary for today’s economy.”
