Tag: Enrollment

Student Enrollment Is Down In W.Va. K-12 Schools This Year

Student enrollment in West Virginia’s K-12 public schools has decreased this year.

West Virginia Superintendent of Schools Clayton Burch told West Virginia Board of Education members this week that enrollment in West Virginia public schools has dropped by more than 1,400 students compared to last year.

The drop, according to Burch, is due to continued population loss in the state and the impacts of the pandemic.

For the 2021-2022 school year, there are 250,899 students enrolled in public schools in the state.

Additionally, the state board of education agreed to permanently close and consolidate schools in Hampshire and Lincoln counties.

Hampshire County will close John J. Cornwell Elementary School ahead of schedule due to enrollment decreases, safety concerns and required educational needs. It’s one of five elementary schools earmarked to close after the county passed a school construction bond in 2020.

The board also approved the closure and consolidation of Duval pre-K-8 and Midway Elementary in Lincoln County due to structural concerns. The facility closed in July.

Students at all three schools have been reassigned temporarily to nearby schools until consolidation can begin.

The board also placed the following policies on public comment until Dec. 13, 2021:

Policy 2315, Comprehensive School Counseling Program will be repealed and replaced to update content to align with current terminology in the West Virginia School Counseling Model and W.Va. Code §18 5 18b.

Policy 2322, West Virginia System of Support and Accountability has been revised to clarify accountability requirements for all public schools. It will also embed requirements for county board of education member-training currently outlined in Policy 3235, Definition of Good Cause Failure to Receive School Board Training, which will be repealed. Additionally, it will embed West Virginia Report Card requirements currently outlined in Policy 7300, Better Schools Accountability: School, School Districts, and Statewide School Report Cards, which will also be repealed.

Policy 5100, Approval of Educator Preparation Programs has been revised for the purpose of adding clarifying language.

Higher Ed Officials Say Enrollment Decline Was ‘Moderate’ This Fall

In the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission’s regular meeting Friday, it was announced that starting Monday, all of West Virginia’s four-year, public higher education institutions will be virtual-only until next semester.

Commission Chancellor Sarah Armstrong Tucker said the decision was made to help slow the spread of the coronavirus during the holidays.

The HEPC also released enrollment data for fall 2020. The commission reports that enrollment at most campuses in the state fell 2.8 percent due to the pandemic.

Declines were mostly among dual-enrollment, non-resident and international students.

“We had a lot of uncertainties going into this fall semester,” said HEPC Chancellor Sarah Armstrong Tucker. “Working closely together, our college and university presidents made the decision to bring students back to campus, but in the safest possible way. While we saw some enrollment declines, I am encouraged by the fact that so many in-state students are continuing their education.”

First-time freshmen at West Virginia’s four-year institutions dropped for the fifth year in a row, down by 5.4 percent from fall 2019 to fall 2020.

Tucker said the state’s four-year enrollment numbers mirror national trends and reflect the state’s declining population. She also encouraged high school students to stay on track for college, even as the pandemic challenges them to participate in education in different ways.

“We know high school students are grappling every day with uncertainties around attending school in person, keeping up good grades in a virtual environment, and staying healthy and safe,” Tucker said. “This is a lot to deal with, but in spite of it all we have to encourage our young people to not lose sight of their futures.”

West Virginia ranks in the top 10 states in providing college financial aid, according to the commission. The state’s higher education system gives more than $104 million in student aid every year.

Tucker also said the state’s higher education institutions managed to see less than one percent of students, faculty and staff test positive for the virus through the fall semester.

With state support, about 10 percent of the college population statewide received weekly coronavirus testing. HEPC officials said while cases did “increase moderately,” schools have been able to contain the disease thus far.

Higher education leaders plan to implement campuswide testing for the virus in January and continue with surveillance testing throughout the spring semester.

Second Pay Cut For Marshall University Staff In Two Months

Marshall University’s President Jerome Gilbert announced the school will impose pay cuts to 650 employees due to the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on enrollment numbers this year. 

This comes after a pay cut to 140 employees in July. 

Gilbert said in a public letter that numbers are better than expected, but the school’s fall enrollment is down by 4.6 percent, or 541 students. He explained the school is seeing fewer out-of-state and international students this year, and this has resulted in an overall revenue hit of $3.6 million.

“These temporary salary reductions will affect employees whose annual salaries are in the range of $50,000 to $100,000,” Gilbert said. “The reductions range from 0.07 percent to 5.6 percent and are on a sliding scale, so employees who make more will have higher percentage reductions.”

The July pay cuts affected employees who were making $100,000 or more annually.

Employees making under $50,000 a year are unaffected by either cut.

“I sincerely regret that we have to take this step,” Gilbert said. “We had all hoped this second phase of salary cuts would not be necessary. It is still our intent for these temporary salary reductions to last no longer than one year.”

Pay reductions will go into effect with the pay period that begins Sept. 12 and will be reflected on paychecks beginning Oct. 9.

Enrollment Down at West Virginia Colleges, Officials Say

Higher education officials say enrollment is down at West Virginia’s four-year and community colleges.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that Chancellor Paul Hill told lawmakers Monday that has declined from its peak in 2011 as more people re-entered the work force. Officials said in their annual state of the Higher Education Report Card that full-time equivalent undergraduate enrollment fell from 64,427 in 2011 to 61,042 in 2014.

At the same time, officials say the number of students who are graduating is improving. Nearly 9,270 bachelor’s degrees were handed out in 2014, up to from 8,886 in 2011.

The number of students earning bachelor’s degrees in health related fields increased nearly 26 percent between 2010 and 2014. Degrees in science, technology, engineering and math majors increased by more than 12 percent.

W.Va.'s Student Enrollment Stabilizing

The Higher Education Policy Commission says student enrollment at West Virginia’s public four-year colleges is showing signs of stabilizing.

HEPC Chancellor Paul Hill says enrollment in the state’s public colleges has declined in each of the past five years, but a smaller decline this fall could indicate efforts to boost enrollment are working.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the head count for West Virginia’s 12 public four-year colleges is now 64,829. That’s a less than 1 percent drop from last year.

Neal Holly, the commission’s vice chancellor for policy and planning, says enrollment for students 24 and younger has been steady, dropping only 1.2 percent in the past five years. He says the state’s enrollment decline is higher among students 25 years and older at 27 percent since 2010.

Marshall Enrollment Numbers Up

Marshall University’s enrollment is up 2.7 percent this fall.

The Herald-Dispatch reports that the Marshall Board of Governors received the report on fall enrollment Wednesday. An increase of 257 students brings total enrollment to 13,334.

Michael McGuffey, senior vice president of institutional research and planning, also reported that the university’s student retention rate is 78 percent. He said that’s a 4.5 percent increase over the past two years.

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