College Enrollment Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Wayne Co. High School Receives National Recognition For College Readiness

Spring Valley High School in Wayne County has been named a 2023 School of Excellence by ACT’s Center for Equity in Learning

Spring Valley High School in Wayne County has been named a 2023 School of Excellence by ACT’s Center for Equity in Learning’s American College Application Campaign (ACAC).

ACAC is a national effort to increase the number of first-generation college students and students from low-income families pursuing a college degree or other higher education credential.

Spring Valley is one of 27 schools from across the country to be recognized for its College Application and Exploration Week and its work with West Virginia GEAR UP to remove many of the common obstacles in applying to college.

Debra Asbury, school counselor and GEARUP coordinator at Spring Valley, said that means providing every chance for students to learn about different careers.

“It’s our job…to provide them with opportunities to meet with admissions counselors, FAFSA coordinator, anything that’s getting them ready for post secondary, whether that is for a trade school, beauty school, or whether that’s to go to Harvard,” she said.

The application process can be confusing and daunting, and Asbury said exposing students to opportunities after graduation and helping them fill out forms is key to their future success.

“They need to break the cycle for some of these kids because they’re from areas where their parents didn’t graduate or they didn’t go on to school, and they’ve got to know their goals are achievable,” she said.

Lindsay Ellis is also a school counselor and GEARUP coordinator at Spring Valley. She said the recognition was an honor, especially after doing the same work for several years.

“These are things that we’ve always done as school counselors, but it really means a lot to get recognized for that,” she said. “I feel that all school counselors, especially the ones that we come in contact with, everybody is deserving.“

Asbury and Ellis believe that Spring Valley stood out in part because of a FAFSA completion rate of 62.5 percent, the highest in recent school history, as well as a strong social media presence.

“Show the community, show parents what we’re doing,” Ellis said. “Keep everybody in the loop, which is very important.”

Both counselors recognize the importance of the school-wide investment, from administrators to students, that was needed to receive the ACAC’s attention.

Public Four-Year Institutions In W.Va. Increase Tuition And Fees

Four-year public colleges in West Virginia increased the price of regular tuition and fees for the upcoming academic year. Each price tag is within about $900 from the other.

While Glenville State University increased tuition and fees by more than $160 per year, it remains the public four-year institution with the lowest price tag in the state.

Second is West Virginia State University followed by Fairmont State University.

West Virginia University’s cost last year was more than $9,144, already more than other schools across the state. This year’s numbers for WVU are not yet available. WVU’s Board of Governors is expected to meet June 24.

Aside from WVU, all eight of the colleges come with price tags between $8,884 and $8,044; a span that’s relatively low of $840. The cost does not include housing and other expenses.

West Liberty University and Bluefield State University have a higher price tag than Marshall University for the upcoming academic year.

Other schools in this ranking include Concord University and Shepherd University.

Fall 2020 Saw Lowest College, Vocational-Technical School Enrollment In 20 Years For W.Va.

Less than half of West Virginia’s 2020 public high school seniors enrolled in higher education this past fall. That includes traditional four-year institutions, two-year institutions, and vocational and technical schools.

According to the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, only 48.2 percent of high school seniors who graduated in 2020 pursued some higher education in the fall.

That marks the lowest college-going rate for recent high school graduates in the state since 2000. The commission’s chancellor, Sarah Armstrong Tucker, said the coronavirus pandemic played a role in that decline, but said it’s not clear if it’s the main culprit.

“We anticipated, as did the rest of the country, that we would have fewer students going to college this year, because of concerns about exposure to COVID,” Tucker said.

It is a low point for West Virginia, but it’s also not a sharp decline.

The college-going rate in West Virginia has hovered around or just above 50 percent for several years, Tucker noted. She said the biggest problem has been ensuring students understand that going to college, whether the traditional way or a community and technical college, is doable and important for student futures.

“So, that’s what we’ve been working on,” she said. “Trying to find ways to make sure that our students know that going to college is a possibility. And not just a possibility, but an affordable possibility.”

Tucker said certain groups, in particular, do not enroll as often as others. For example, higher income students in West Virginia enroll in college 25 percent more than lower income students — and more women enroll in higher education than men, by about 20 percent.

“There’s a population of 60 percent of males out there that don’t know what we do and don’t understand how well we do it,” she said. “And so we really need to start targeting them and getting them into school.”

Tucker said all students can get affordable college degrees in West Virginia. The state offers several financial aid opportunities such as the PROMISE Scholarship and the West Virginia Invests Grant.

Ahead of the 2021 state legislative session, higher education officials reported that submissions of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in the state were down by 25 percent.

As of April 23, the West Virginia HEPC reported that 49.4 percent of 2021 high school seniors have completed the FAFSA.

The deadline to submit FAFSA applications was extended in the state to July 1.

West Virginia University Freshmen Enrollment Hits Record

Freshmen enrollment at the West Virginia University system has hit a record 6,224 as classes started at its three campuses.

The university said there were 5,241 first-day, first-time freshmen in Morgantown as classes began Wednesday, up 55 from last year; 364 at West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, an increase of 49 from last year; and 619 at Potomac State College of WVU in Keyser, down 46.

Associate Vice President Stephen Lee says average high school grade-point averages were also higher at all three campuses. A news release from the university said the incoming class also has higher test scores and an increase in international students.

Potomac State Campus President Jennifer Orlikoff says although first-time freshmen numbers declined there, the number of second-year and transfer students increased.

West Virginia College Enrollment Drops for 5th Straight Year

The total enrollment of West Virginia’s public four-year colleges has declined for the fifth consecutive year.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports about 250 fewer students have enrolled compared to the previous year, according to a report given to the state Higher Education Policy Commission.

Commission Vice Chancellor for Policy and Planning Neal Holly said most of the decline is a because of a decrease in non-traditional students who returned to school following the 2008 recession but have since graduated or left their programs.

The number of first-time freshmen increased 3.7 percent compared to last year, but the overall rate is still down from previous years.

The only schools to see significant enrollment gains were West Virginia State University and West Virginia University Institute of Technology.