State Education Leaders Look At Simplifying State College Aid 

Nationally, 62% of high school graduates are continuing their education by going to college, but just 47% of West Virginians are doing the same, despite the cost being lower than two thirds of the rest of the country.

“The average cost of tuition for our four year institutions is about $9,000 in West Virginia, and for our public two year institutions, it’s about $4,800,” Sarah Tucker, chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission said. “We rank 26th in the nation as far as how much our higher education institutions cost. But when you take a look at the amount of state financial aid that you all provide, we actually rank 16th.”

Tucker told the Joint Standing Committee on Education Monday evening that surveys of students, advisors and institutions reveal the state’s academic aid system is too complicated.

“I think that if we can work together to help streamline some of these processes, some of these rules, some of these requirements, we can make it easier for our students to see themselves as college students in West Virginia,” she said. 

Tucker told lawmakers the state’s college going rate needs to improve significantly by 2030 to meet West Virginia’s growing economic needs. She proposed an application like TurboTax that would be more appealing for students and other users, and told lawmakers she will return with a more concrete proposal.