Hokie Passport Services announces electronic door access rate reduction
Hokie Passport Services, a division of the Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer, will reduce electronic door access rates effective July 1, 2014.
Starting with the new fiscal year, annual electronic door access rates will be reduced to a single, flat rate of $456 per door annually. This reflects a significant reduction from the current two-tier rate system of $1,000 for an initial door and $600 for each additional door in a given location.
The reduction will apply to all current and new customers. Doors that are added to the program during a fiscal year will be billed on a prorated basis.
The rate reduction resulted from a challenge from Chief Financial Officer M. Dwight Shelton to explore and develop new business models that reduce costs for the university, according to Joe Griffitts, director of Hokie Passport Services.
“Mr. Shelton gave us the full support and commitment of his finance team to make this happen, and the team work paid off," said Griffitts. “We put every card on the table, looked at electronic door access operations at universities across the country, and were open minded to change. This approach coupled with thoughtful adoption of new technology, recent growth jumps in the door program, and traditional cost containment measures made way to achieve sufficient economies of scale to warrant this rate reduction.
"Hokie Passport Services is pleased with this reduction and will continue to seek ways to reduce costs,” added Griffitts. “This new rate reduction will directly benefit university departments by freeing up operating budgets to focus resources on instructional programs and other academic initiatives.”
Hokie Passport Services began serving the electronic door access needs of the university in 1994, with its first electronic access doors at Payne Hall. The program held a steady, slow growth for the next 16 years reaching 323 in 2010. Since 2010, the program’s growth pace has risen with 820 doors in service for the start of Fiscal Year 2015.
University departments that are interested in obtaining new or additional electronic door access services should email Hokie Passport Services or call 540-231-5121.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
