The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has fined Virginia Tech $55,000 for federal violations pertaining to the 2007 mass killing. University officials say they'll contest the fines, which reached the maximum amount allowable.

Virginia Tech officials claim that the university's actions on April 16, 2007, fell within standard practice at the time, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Students were not notified that a person with a firearm was on the campus until more than two hours after two students were found dead in a residence hall at 7:15 a.m.

The DOE found the university to be in violation of the Clery Act for not issuing a timely warning after the slain students were discovered and for not following its own procedures for handling a threat.

The university issued a vaguely worded statement about a campus shooting at 9:26 a.m. That morning, senior Seung-Hui Cho killed 30 other students and professors in a campus building before taking his own life.

Read the full story at TimesDispatch.com.