Virginia Tech students will have the option of receiving text message alerts from the university during the next academic year.

Students are expected to be able to register for the service by new student orientation in late June, Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski said Wednesday.

Much has been made of cellphone text message alerts since the shootings on Tech's campus April 16. Companies that offer the technology have reported increased interest, and universities throughout Virginia and the country are looking into it.

Owczarski said university officials were discussing text message alerts before the first campus emergency this school year.

Tech was shut down on the first day of classes because of reports of escaped prisoner William Morva in Squires Student Center. That reinforced the importance of having multiple ways to communicate with students and staff during an emergency, Owczarski said. So Tech pursued the idea and was receiving bids from several companies for the service when the April 16 shootings occurred. Tech was committed to having the system in place for the 2007-08 school year last fall, he said.

The supplier and the cost for the program have yet to be determined, though Owczarski said it likely will cost about $1 a phone to implement.

Tech already uses e-mail alerts, its Web site, a campus hotline, voicemail "blasts" to campus phones, public address systems in some buildings and a siren system to alert people outside.

The university posted a message on its Web site at 9:26 a.m. April 16 about the first shootings, which occurred in a residence hall about two hours earlier. An e-mail message was also sent out about that time. Later in the morning, the siren system could be heard throughout campus.

Owczarski said that, while text messaging alerts have value, they're just one of a host of ways to communicate during emergencies.

"But if it helps one more person, it's a good thing."