Congratulations to the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI)! Forbes Magazine recently praised the UVI for offering one of the best online learning models among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in the United States. The UVI online degree program was recognized among ten distinguished HBCUs for its low student-to-faculty ratio, relatively high student retention rate, and low average net price per year. The rankings appear in a June 6 article in Forbes Magazine. Forbes said UVI was chosen for creating a system that worked well as a classroom setting where all users engaged in the same activity, and for having interactive features through chat exchanges and message delivery.
UVI began offering online degree programs for graduate and undergraduate students in 2018. Leadership at UVI said they were exploring online courses at the time the hurricanes hit, and were able to utilize the infrastructure that had already been developed to bring university-level courses to the school virtually.
Read the full article on St. Croix Source here and the UVI press release here.
Question: “At the $500,000 – $1,000,000 price point, will the house have a sea view?”
Christie’s Answer:
Of the 32 homes available today, 19 had sea views, and several more had more of a peek-a-boo sea view. Sometimes views can be opened up or enlarged by trimming plants and trees. The right house for you might have a view you can expand.
What $500,000 – $1,000,000 can buy you? In our November 2022 newsletter we discussed what $150,000 – $300,000 could buy you here on St. Croix. In our February 2023 newsletter we looked at what $300,000 – $500,000 could buy. This month’s newsletter has the next installment of that conversation. If you would like to see the other newsletters, go to our Contact Us page. That’s where you can sign up for the newsletters. There’s also a button to click which takes you to our last newsletter. Once there, in the top left side of the page is a button to click to see all the past newsletters.
Contact us with any questions about home buying on St. Croix. We have worked with many Buyers on and off the island to purchase their dream home on St. Croix. We can help you with every step of the process.
Question: “At the $500,000 – $1,000,000 price point, will the house have a pool?”
Chris’ Answer:
Possibly. Of the 32 homes available today, 16 had pools. What’s important is the house. if you find the right house and there is not already a pool there, often pools can be added. Just make sure that there is room for one.
What $500,000 – $1,000,000 can buy you? In our November 2022 newsletter we discussed what $150,000 – $300,000 could buy you here on St. Croix. In our February 2023 newsletter we looked at what $300,000 – $500,000 could buy. This month’s newsletter has the next installment of that conversation. If you would like to see the other newsletters, go to our Contact Us page. That’s where you can sign up for the newsletters. There’s also a button to click which takes you to our last newsletter. Once there, in the top left side of the page is a button to click to see all the past newsletters.
Contact us with any questions about home buying on St. Croix. We have worked with many Buyers on and off the island to purchase their dream home on St. Croix. We can help you with every step of the process.
We are excited to see that tourism in the US Virgin Islands has remained very strong! The Caribbean Journal reported that ForwardKeys data shows the US Virgin Islands leading Caribbean destinations in international arrival growth, with a 22 percent increase over the first quarter of 2022. That’s ahead of destinations like St Maaten, Guadeloupe, Turks and Caicos and even the Dominican Republic. It also reported that since 2019, the numbers show an even more robust, sustainable jump: the US Virgin Islands has grown at a rate of 24 percent, the highest growth rate in the Caribbean. Read the full article here.
We have noticed that since beginning of the year, the island continues saw many many are visiting for the first time through the increase of cruise ship arrivals and stayover visitors from the mainland. It doesn’t surprise us that reports show in St. Croix, cruise traffic has increased by 150 percent! While the cruise ship season has ended here on St. Croix now that we are approaching June, our island arrivals by air are at an all-time high with visitors from all over the mainland coming to our shores for a taste of the island’s captivating energy.
We are so happy to also see the U.S. Virgin Islands has received top honors from several prestigious media companies for 2023. Porthole Cruise and Travel Magazine, Yahoo! Life and Frommers all underscored the territory for its ease of travel and new developments. Condé Nast Traveler highlighted the USVI as one of the Best Places to Go in 2023; Travel + Leisure ranked USVI as one of the 50 best destinations to travel to thanks to our beach vibes. We’re thrilled to share St. Croix with new and returning visitors in 2023.
The Virgin Islands Energy Office (VIEO) broke ground on the construction of a 125 kW Solar plus 300 kWh battery micro-grid at the St. Croix Educational Complex last month and slated to complete at the end of August. According to the St. Croix Source, the micro-grid will enable the Educational Complex’s emergency hurricane shelter to function reliably during extended grid outages and significantly reduce the use of fossil fuel generators that have proven difficult to maintain and costly to fuel. Additionally, under blue-sky conditions, the solar microgrid will aid in offsetting approximately $6,000 per month in utility costs the school incurs under normal operation.
This is great news for the territory and in very timely for the upcoming hurricane season and start of school year!
