Colleges are facing challenges recruiting and retaining top talent in a pandemic-fueled employees’ market. But Virginia State University this month introduced a new strategy to set it apart from other institutions: It’s offering to help faculty and staff members buy a house.
The historically Black institution will use discretionary funds to match up to $10,000 toward employees’ down payment or closing costs on a home. The program, called the Home Assistance Payment Initiative, is open to current and incoming employees, who can use the money to purchase any home, townhouse, or condominium in the village of Ettrick, where the university is located, or the neighboring city of Petersburg, Virginia.
The idea of colleges helping employees pay for homes isn’t completely novel: The University of California system, for example, has a faculty recruitment allowance program, the amount of which is determined by the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. But the Virginia State model stands out for catering to staff members as well as faculty, and for its dual emphasis on bolstering the local economy and enticing employees.
Colleges have adopted a range of strategies — like tweaking job listings and salary expectations, expediting the hiring process, and adding remote-work and flexible-scheduling perks — to stem recruitment and retention woes the past few years. In a “candidate’s market” that’s allowed prospective employees to be picky about their place of work, institutions have found themselves competing with one another and with the private sector for top talent. In a 2022 Chronicle survey, conducted with support from Huron Consulting Group, 84 percent of college leaders said hiring for administrative and staff jobs had been more difficult in the last year. Meanwhile, more than half of staff members who responded to a 2022 survey from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources said they’d consider leaving their job within a year.
Some institutions have in recent years taken steps to attract residents to their communities. Purdue University and West Virginia University have lured workers to their college towns, aiming to encourage economic revitalization. But those programs have targeted people outside higher education whose jobs were remote. Purdue, for instance, is offering some applicants a $5,000 stipend, plus housing discounts and access to campus facilities, to join a “remote-working community”; participants can choose to live anywhere in the greater Lafayette, Ind., area. And West Virginia’s program, geared toward outdoor enthusiasts, offers remote workers $12,000 and a year’s worth of free outdoor activities like skiing and rafting.
Our mindset is if people work in the community where they live and they shop, that would help the economy of those communities.
Virginia State hasn’t experienced particular problems with attrition, said Donald E. Palm, the university’s executive vice president and provost. Rather, the home-assistance program is intended as a “more proactive versus reactive” approach to a competitive job market. Including it in a recruitment package for new employees, Palm said, “does a lot to communicate to future faculty and staff members that we are investing in them.” He hopes it will help set Virginia State apart in in-demand faculty disciplines like computer science and business.
The program may also help draw employees to Ettrick, whose population is about 7,200, and to Petersburg, both of which sit south of Richmond. While Virginia State is the only four-year institution in Chesterfield County, many of its employees don’t live nearby, said Gwen Williams Dandridge, the assistant vice president for communications.
“At 5:00 every day, the majority of the employees of Virginia State hit Interstate 95 and head to other parts of Chesterfield, Richmond, other areas as well,” Williams Dandridge said. “Our mindset is if people work in the community where they live and they shop, that would help the economy of those communities.”
Virginia State leaders hope that faculty and staff members, many of whom rent property in the area, will be enticed by the prospect of home ownership, which could encourage longevity in their employment. Palm said the program’s announcement has already made a noticeable difference in morale. While administrators aren’t sure how many people will take advantage, employees and local realtors have already reached out for more specifics on the program, Williams Dandridge said.
There’s no set cap for how much money the university will put toward the program or when it will end, Williams Dandridge said, adding that the university’s president, Makola M. Abdullah, will make those decisions depending on demand. Participating employees will need to commit to staying at Virginia State for at least a year after buying their home — which must be their primary residence — and use a lender approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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