New River Valley Times

Virginia Tech student-athletes must balance their academic work and athletic schedules and they receive assistance from the Department of Student Athlete Academic Support Services to do so.

The SAASS helps Hokies student-athletes by offering comprehensive academic support, which includes tutoring, studying assistance, computer technology and also individual and academic skill development programs, according to its website.

A college student has a demanding schedule but a student-athlete has the additional demands of games, practices and workouts. SAASS seeks to help them reach their fullest potential both on and off the field.

Support services offers academic counselors, and each team is assigned a counselor who coordinates academic assistance for each member of the team, according to the website. 

Faculty members provide the academic counselors with academic progress forms, allowing student-athletes to check their progress and also have time to adjust their study time if needed. These academic progress forms include the students' attendance, assignment completion and grade status. Once academic counselors receive the reports, they review them with the coaches and student-athletes so adjustments can be made before the semester ends. 

The SAASS staff and the coaches at Virginia Tech encourage student-athletes to complete assignments, attend classes regularly and be in contact with their instructors to become successful academically.

The SAASS department also has computer facilities for student-athletes, plus a loaner laptop program and orientation guides. It also provides a study hall, which offers structured studying for student-athletes. Sessions are quiet to provide uninterrupted time. 

Certain students are required to attend study hall, including all first-year student-athletes. In addition, any student-athlete whose overall GPA is below 2.30 or who has a semester with a GPA less than 2.0 must attend a study hall. 

Virginia Tech student-athletes compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I level, which is demanding. According to its statistics, 89% of Division I athletes nationally graduated in the 2018-2019 academic year, compared to 91% of Hokies who graduated.