Just hours before the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund was expected to close for future donations on Wednesday, Virginia Tech said it would keep the fund open until further notice.

"The administration is considering an extension of the deadline of the fund," said Michael Kiser, spokesman for university development. "The fund will remain open until a decision is made."

The Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund was created almost immediately after the April 16 shootings at Tech and, in the months since, donors have contributed more than $7.1 million across the 34 funds under the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund umbrella.

The fund includes 32 named funds, one for each victim; a general scholarship fund; and a fund for the broad support of the university community and the families of those involved.

Tech officials first announced in early July that they would close the fund Wednesday.

That date continued to be listed on the fund's Web site (www.vt.edu/fund) Wednesday afternoon, along with a notice that "any monies given after that date will be directed into the Hokie Spirit Scholarship Fund, a general scholarship fund."

Yet in the weeks since Tech's announcement, families of some shooting victims had raised concerns about the deadline.

As a result, Kenneth Feinberg, the Washington, D.C., lawyer appointed to administer the fund, said Monday that the deadline was "under advisement."

Feinberg said he plans to meet with university officials Friday through Aug. 15 to revise the timeline for a proposed distribution plan for the fund.

At that time, he added, "we will reconsider the August 1 deadline in light of family and students objections to closing the fund on August 1."

Kiser said he did not know when the university would name a new deadline date.

"There is just so much that is really fluid about this," he said. "We want things to reach their most amenable conclusion."

Under Feinberg's draft plan, families of the 32 students and faculty killed in the shootings would have a choice of receiving a $150,000 payment or dividing that amount between a cash payment and an endowed scholarship in the name of their loved one.

Wounded victims who were hospitalized for 15 days or more would be eligible for $75,000 payments, and those hospitalized between three and 14 days would qualify for $25,000. In each case, victims also could choose to divide the amounts between cash payments and scholarships. Those who suffered less serious physical injuries would be eligible for $8,000 payouts.