If bad news or even bad weather hits this fall, students across the New River and Roanoke valleys might expect to receive a cellphone text message from their college administrators.

The texting trend is one of the more popular methods school officials want to use to improve communication with students and faculty in the wake of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech.

Companies that sell communication software are even targeting local schools, sending e-mails promoting their systems, said Ferrum College spokeswoman Natalie Faunce.

Ferrum unveiled its text-messaging system this week, but it has yet to have to use it, she said.

"It was one of those things, 'Let's get it before the prices skyrocket,' " Faunce said. "After the Tech thing, it just went forward immediately."

Officials are still collecting students' phone numbers, she said.

While all colleges say they are taking a closer look at their emergency procedure manuals -- Roanoke College has created a task force devoted to changes this summer -- most say they are examining any angle to improve safety.

"The more redundancy, the better," said Tim Kolly, a spokesman for Washington and Lee University. "Not everybody has their cellphone with them. The more we can get to them, the better."

Kolly said W&L is working on a crisis simulation for the fall, to test its improved safety measures.

Most schools are also looking into campuswide siren systems and swipe-card locks.

At Radford University, President Penelope Kyle publicly promised that a campuswide loudspeaker and siren system would be in place this summer and that a multiple-method notification system for students and faculty would come soon after.

"We do need to, probably other than any other school, besides Virginia Tech, need to make some special effort. Because when you get away from here, people think we're right next to each other," Kyle said Friday.

Virginia Tech has a similar siren, which could be heard throughout Blacksburg when officers believed they were searching for a shooter on April 16. Tech President Charles Steger has said that the school was looking into a communication system that would include texts, before the shootings.

Ferrum's system, called e2Campus, sends instant alerts via personal digital assistant, text message and e-mail during any emergency, including weather-related events. Schools across the nation use the system, including the University of Virginia.

It will cost Ferrum about $2,000 a year, Faunce said.

John Johnson, spokesman for Verizon Wireless, pointed out that any modern cellphone can receive a text message sent by e-mail. Thus a school could send a text message to every student from any computer with access to e-mail without installing any new software.

The texting programs have critics, but Bruce Schneier, a security expert and chief technical officer of security company BT Counterpane, loves the idea.

"Why is it good? Because it's multifunctional," he said. "There are many times where it's valuable. There are hundreds of reasons you might want to alert students."

For Schneier, the best security solutions are those that aren't narrowly targeted -- they're those that are broad and flexible enough to deal with situations no one has thought of.

"I don't think 'shooter, rampage,' " he said. "I think 'any situation where the campus needs to alert students.' "

And what about the concern that not every student will have access to an e-mail account or cellphone at every moment and could miss the warning? Schneier shrugs it off.

"If 80 percent have it, the 20 percent that don't will be told by their friends," he said.

And, although there are companies that will sell dedicated and expensive text-message warning systems, those aren't necessary.

Cost doesn't seem to be a factor for university administrators, or even faculty.

Former Radford Faculty Senate President Jack Call on Friday suggested a swipe-card system for academic buildings, which might require a professor to open the door for all students.

"Basically, everything is on the table to come up with new and better ways," said Jeff Hodges, public relations director at Hollins University.

Staff writer Andrew Kantor contributed to this report.