BLACKSBURG -- Virginia Tech will receive $2.65 million in federal funds to continue counseling efforts started at the school after the April 16, 2007, shootings.

Flanked by Tech officials Thursday morning at Burruss Hall, U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, announced the grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.

"While much healing has occurred, there is an ongoing need for coping services to the Virginia Tech community," Boucher said in explaining why his office helped to secure the grant.

The 18-month grant will fund six counselor positions added to Tech's Cook Counseling Center's staff after the shootings. The funds will also allow Tech to create case manager positions to help faculty and staff cope with the tragedy and boost counseling efforts in its office of student affairs.

The funds are provided through the Department of Justice's Office of Victims of Crime, created after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing to support communities affected by acts of mass violence. Tech student Seung-Hui Cho, the gunman responsible for the shootings at West Ambler Johnston and Norris halls, killed 32 people before taking his own life. Twenty-five people were injured.

Tech requested nearly $6 million from the program in September 2007. Earlier this year, the program gave the university $350,959 to fund three positions in its Office of Recovery and Support. At that point, frustrated with the speed of the process, university officials assumed they would not receive more money.

The $2,650,953 announced Thursday includes those initial funds.

Tech sent a revised grant proposal this spring, and Boucher dedicated one of his staff members to working with the Department of Justice on securing the funds. Weekly updates on the work that person was doing often lasted an hour, Boucher said.

"We were frankly frustrated with the amount of time it took," he said. "But we're glad the grant was awarded."

Richard Ferraro, Tech's assistant vice president for student affairs, described the funding's impact as "atomic." Cook Counseling Center handled 11,065 student visits in the 2007-08 academic year compared with 7,147 in 2005-06. Ferraro said Tuesday the number of visits is still going up this fall. He attributes the growth to students still coping with the tragedy and an increased awareness of the center's services.

Ferraro said the ideal ratio of counselors to students at universities is 1 to 1,500. Before the shootings, Tech's ratio was about 1 to 2,700. With the additional counselors that number is now about 1 to 1,750.

Boucher's announcement came just one hour before Gov. Tim Kaine announced state budget cuts that will affect public universities. Tech President Charles Steger mentioned the importance of the support in light of those cuts.

"The cuts we expect this week are going to be a great challenge to this university," he said.

Looking beyond the 18-month grant, Steger said he expects the needs of the campus community to change as time goes on, but the issue of counseling support at universities isn't going to go away.

"It's an issue that faces every institution in the country," he said.