The $1 billion Campaign for Virginia Tech, the university's loftiest fundraising goal in its history, has seen a slowdown.
"I think they're some folks out there who have been affected by the economy, both our donors and perspective donors," Vice President for Development and University Relations Betsy Flanagan said.
Flanagan added that some donors will see how the stock market changes before donating.
"We've gone through stock market fluctuations in the past," Flanagan said. "I think everyone's just waiting it out."
Flanagan explained that Tech has an endowment portfolio full of stocks and bonds that fluctuates with the stock market. She said she couldn't give an exact number that the university has lost so far because of the fickle nature of the market.
"Every minute is a different story," Flanagan said. "At any particular moment, it is a different value. It will eventually come back up, at least that's what history has told us. Right now, the whole economy has got to stabilize in some shape or form."
Flanagan said she has hopes that the economy will improve after the elections when the country's leadership is determined. She is confident the campaign will reach its goal by the 2010 completion deadline.
"Our campaign has two plus years to go," Flanagan said. "I would certainly hope that our economy will improve between now and 2010."
For students who are financing college through a commercial loan and have already taken out the loan with a fixed interest rate, the economy's woes will not matter, said Hans Haller, head of the economics department. However, future loans will be more expensive.
Further, employment opportunities have been damaged.
"The other effect is that employment opportunities will go down in some areas," Haller said. "If you are a senior who's graduating, your job prospects might not be as good as they have been recently."
Donna Cassell Ratcliffe, director of Career Services, said that as of now, companies seem to be looking for employees at a healthy rate.
"We have more companies coming this fall than a year ago to interview students," Ratcliffe said. "I have been in the career services field for over 25 years and I have lived through probably three periods of economic decline. So far, this time I'm just not yet seeing any obvious downturn in traffic in job listings."
Ratcliffe said that federal government agencies, such as homeland security and the U.S. General Services Administration, are still hiring in force. Fannie Mae was at Tech interviewing more than 100 students for positions this week, she added.
Not all fields, however, reflect this outlook. A manufacturing and construction company for homes is not coming to hire at Tech because of the housing crisis, and Wachovia canceled also because it is currently being taken over by another bank, Ratcliffe said.
"Typically when there is kind of a downturn in the economy a lot of companies strive to hire college students for the short-term," Ratcliffe said, explaining that hiring college graduates is a great way for them to have short-term employees if they are forced to lay-off other workers.
Ratcliffe suggested that students research companies that they're interested in to determine whether the companies are having a rough time. In any economical state, she advises students to "jump in early" in the job search, have a dynamic resume, and work on their interviewing skills.
Although Ratcliffe said hiring rates are still healthy, that could change quickly.
"So far I haven't seen it take a bite out of our opportunities for students," Ratcliffe said. "Call me next week or in a month."
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