BLACKSBURG -- His final town hall meeting about the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund behind him, Kenneth Feinberg, the Washington, D.C., lawyer appointed to administer the fund, turned his attention Friday to hammering out a final fund distribution plan with Virginia Tech officials.

Feinberg said he plans to meet with university officials over the next two weeks and expects to have a plan finalized by Aug. 15, begin processing applications through September and "have checks cut or tuition paid for certainly no later than Nov. 1."

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.

Feinberg drafted a proposed plan for fund distribution in mid-July and has spent subsequent weeks meeting with the victims' families and injured students to gather feedback on the proposal. Before presiding over a meeting in Blacksburg on Friday morning, Feinberg held gatherings in Washington, D.C., Richmond, Falls Church, Va., and Trenton, N.J.

"The meetings have been extremely constructive," Feinberg said this week. "The families and the students who I've met with have been extremely gracious. They're understandably angry and frustrated with life's misfortunes, but they have been extremely gracious to me personally, and very constructive, and I'm grateful to them for a host of suggestions on how to improve the draft protocol."

About 15 people attended Feinberg's roughly 50-minute meeting at the Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center on Friday. Attendees declined to talk to the media.

Previous gatherings have served as a clearinghouse for many families to voice worries about the fund and frustration over the university's responsiveness to their needs.

Feinberg said that while the meetings are confidential, a few common concerns have surfaced. Among them are questions about when the money will be distributed, whether it will be taxable and when the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund will close to future donations.

The fund, originally slated to have closed Wednesday, has been kept open until further notice.

Feinberg said students and families have also put forward a number of suggestions, including having a full audit of the fund and deducting certain expenses that the university has paid for from the eventual payments made to individuals and families.

Feinberg said he planned to pass family, student and community concerns and suggestions on to Tech officials Friday afternoon, along with his own recommendations.

Under his draft plan, families of 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.

Victims who suffered less serious physical injuries would be eligible for $8,000 payments.