Factiva 5/18/20, 11)47 AM

U.S. News
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Graduations, Campus Classes Canceled by Coronavirus Shock College-Town
Economy; Blacksburg, home to Virginia Tech, 'couldn't have imagined' crisis that
shut down university
By Justin Baer
1339 words
17 May 2020
05:30
The Wall Street Journal Online
WSJO
English
Copyright 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The coronavirus pandemic [https://www-wsj-com.proxy.lib.odu.edu/livecoverage/coronavirus-2020-05-15?

mod=theme_coronavirus-ribbon] has turned vibrant college towns across the U.S. into vacant ones.

This weekend was supposed to be one of the busiest of the year for businesses in Blacksburg, Va., as parents,
grandparents and well-wishers converged on the town to celebrate the 2020 graduates of Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University.

Instead, the city of 45,000 remains in quiet repose, pining for its students to return. It has been a long two months for
Blacksburg and other communities like it, as the pandemic robbed them of their main source of economic vitality
[https://www-wsj-com.proxy.lib.odu.edu/articles/coronavirus-lockdowns-trigger-record-spending-drops-on-shopping-
eating-out-11589535000].

What is happening in Blacksburg is playing out in cities from Ithaca, N.Y., to Pullman, Wash., where the pandemic
hasn't only shut down many businesses [https://www-wsj-com.proxy.lib.odu.edu/articles/the-corporate-coronavirus-
plan-to-reopen-make-it-up-as-you-go-11587404618] but also emptied out college campuses. The losses are
especially painful in places that have leaned on universities to lure well-paying jobs and industry to communities that
might otherwise lack both.

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Mike Soriano, who owns four restaurants in Blacksburg, Va., says 'Football and graduation is when you can make
money' in college towns. PHOTO: Heather Rousseau for The Wall Street Journal

"We've always had the luxury of being insulated from the normal ebbs and flow of the economy," said Mike Soriano,
a Virginia Tech grad who owns four Blacksburg restaurants, including Champs Downtown Sports Bar & Cafe. The
university moved its spring and summer terms to online classes. "And with the uncertainty of the fall, it's made things
difficult to project," he added.

Large colleges and universities employ thousands, buy local goods and services and draw tens of thousands of
students and visitors to their stores, restaurants and hotels. Their presence has shielded local communities from
both long-term economic shifts and short-lived recessions. In places like Blacksburg, business cycles turn
predictably with the seasons: It gets busy in the spring, slows in the summer and then roars to life in September.

Now, Blacksburg business owners look anxiously toward the fall, the possibility of in-person classes and the fate of
seven home football games that have reliably filled hotel rooms, bars, restaurants and shops.

"Football and graduation is when you can make money," Mr. Soriano said.

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Graduating students walked through downtown Blacksburg, Va., last week. The university held a virtual
commencement for students, but some graduates came out on campus to celebrate. PHOTO: Heather Rousseau for
The Wall Street Journal

Virginia Tech is responsible for more than half of Blacksburg's economy, generating about $1.2 billion in annual
income, according to Anna Brown, a researcher at Emsi, a provider of labor-market analytics. One of every two jobs
is supported by the university, its students and visitors, according to Emsi estimates.

As of January, the university had 9,742 employees, including full-time and part-time faculty, staff and wage workers,
a university spokesman said.

Median household income in the Blacksburg area totaled $50,313 in 2018, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
While that is below the Virginia median of $72,577, Blacksburg's income has grown faster than its state overall—
8.6%, compared with 3.6%—since 2010, according to a report by Old Dominion University.

"As you move west in Virginia, the population is less dense, more rural," said Robert McNab, an economist at Old
Dominion, who studies the Virginia economy. The region depends on agriculture, mining and forestry rather than the
manufacturing and information technology found in the state's urban areas.

"Virginia Tech's location allows it to work as a catalyst for economic development," he said. "And it's able to attract
research funding and investment to a part of Virginia that might not otherwise receive much attention."

About 39% of Blacksburg's locally generated revenue comes from taxes on meals, hotel stays and other sales, said
Marc Verniel, Blacksburg's town manager.

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Blacksburg Transit has been carrying 300 to 400 riders a day recently, down from more than 20,000 a day when the
university is in session, Mr. Verniel said. He estimates the home football games bring 400,000-500,000 visitors to
Blacksburg each fall. And when students come back in September, they hurry to local stores to furnish apartments
and dorm rooms.

"We couldn't have imagined an economic crisis that took the university out," he said.

A server at the Blacksburg Tavern took dinner orders from a Virginia Tech student and her mother last week.
PHOTO: Heather Rousseau for The Wall Street Journal

There is more at stake than one season of retail sales. Businesses are worried that some students won't be ready
for on-campus classes this fall, and others might never make it to Blacksburg at all. Some students might opt to stay
home. And international students face travel restrictions and new immigration policies.

This spring, Virginia Tech had nearly 35,000 students, including 28,000 undergrads. Some 8,250 of the undergrads
come from somewhere other than Virginia, and 1,962 of them are international students, according to the university
spokesman.

If the drop in enrollment persists, it could be harder for Blacksburg and other college towns to grow science and
tech-oriented businesses needed to broaden their economies.

Harmonia Holdings Group LLC, an information-technology company with annual revenue nearing $80 million, hires
engineering students who graduate from Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia, located some 150 miles away
in Charlottesville, for its offices in those cities.

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Jai Saboo, Harmonia's chief operating officer, said his company often prefers to hire new staff in lower-cost
Blacksburg rather than its suburban Washington headquarters. The company was recruiting the new wave of
graduates in March when the pandemic hit. Instead, those openings will likely be filled in other locations, including
populous northern Virginia.

"It's a lost cause, because the students aren't there," in Blacksburg, Mr. Saboo said.

As the lockdown wears on, local businesses are losing their most-reliable stretches, from graduation weekend in
May to student orientations in July. The university held an online commencement ceremony on Friday evening.

Stores and restaurants in downtown Blacksburg, Va., were nearly empty last week. PHOTO: Heather Rousseau for
The Wall Street Journal

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam unveiled a plan this month for the gradual reopening of businesses. Virginia Tech
administrators said they would announce their plans for the fall semester next month, and are preparing guidelines
for resuming in-person research projects.

"The fall is an opportunity for us to bring the campus back to life to some degree," Virginia Tech's president, Tim
Sands, said in a recent video call with the university community. "We're really hoping and planning that will be an in-
person fall, but with caveats—and there are still some major decisions to be made."

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Do you expect that colleges will reopen in the fall? Why or why not? Join the conversation below.

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Factiva 5/18/20, 11)47 AM

While business owners are hopeful campus life will soon resume, albeit in a modified way, they say it is hard to plan
for what lies ahead.

Clay Corner Inn, a Blacksburg bed-and-breakfast, has remained open, but most rooms are vacant. Hokies football
fans booked stays shortly after the schedule was released in January. They now call or email the inn's general
manager, Joshua Roseberry, seeking clarity on the team's plans. The school's athletic department has raised the
possibility that the season might be canceled. That would mean the inn returning deposits, draining cash as it
weathers the usual summer slowdown.

"It's similar to a beach community," Mr. Roseberry said of Blacksburg's dependence on Virginia Tech. "You take
away the beach, and there's nothing else."

STAY INFORMED

Get a coronavirus briefing six days a week, and a weekly Health newsletter once the crisis abates: Sign up here
[https://www-wsj-com.proxy.lib.odu.edu/newsletters?sub=18].

Write to Justin Baer at justin.baer@wsj.com [mailto:justin.baer@wsj.com]

Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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