West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education Story Archives

College-going Rate For Eligible W.Va. Graduates Dips Below 50 Percent

The college-going rate for eligible 2021 graduates has dropped to just 46 percent.

This dropoff marks the first time the metric has dropped below 50 percent since tracking began in 2001. It includes students who have reported their standardized test scores to four-year public institutions and two-year community and technical colleges.

At an interim meeting of the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability (LOCEA), Matt Turner of the Higher Education Policy Commission says this dropoff may be because of pandemic-related factors.

“Just even in the fall of 2021, the college courses were still a hybrid mix, there was a lot of uncertainty, a lot of folks were coming to the class and they’d have to go back home,” Turner said. “We believe that there probably was a bit of a sour taste from Zoom exhaustion, we’ll call it, and some concern from students that, ‘I’m not sure I want to pay for a college experience that is going to be remote.’”

Turner also noted that struggles with both the pandemic and the ongoing opioid crisis could specifically be adding to the academic difficulties of first-generation students from rural areas.

The data comes from the yearly Academic Readiness Report shown to the LOCEA by the Higher Education Policy Commission and Council for Community and Technical College Education. The report measures post-secondary students’ ACT and SAT scores and the enrollment and completion of college-level coursework.

Other trends in the report are more positive. Average ACT scores increased in 25 counties and English and math readiness rates increased in 36 counties over the past year.

West Virginia Business College to Remain Open During Appeal

West Virginia Business College will remain open as a judge’s last-minute reprieve has allowed it while the school appeals state officials’ order to close.

The Intelligencer reports the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education ordered the college to close by June 30 after the school lost its accreditation. Ohio County Circuit Judge David Sims granted a stay of the order after attorney Ron Kasserman filed documents arguing that the U.S. Department of Education no longer recognizes the college’s accrediting agency, the Accrediting Council on Independent Colleges and Schools.

U.S. education department spokesman Al Betancourt says the college can continue participating in federal financial aid programs.

Three former students have sued the college, contending that the degrees awarded last month are worthless because of the lack of accreditation.

West Virginia Business College Loses Permit to Operate

West Virginia Business College has had its permit to operate in the state revoked.

The West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education said Thursday the decision was made over the college’s failure to gain accreditation for the 2017-18 school year and its inability to offer students financial aid. The revocation is effective June 30.

The Accrediting Council on Independent Colleges and Schools pulled WVCB’s accreditation late last year, citing concerns with faculty credentials, learning resources and financial aid processes.

The college will lose its accreditation on April 30, meaning it will be up to the U.S. Department of Education whether those set to graduate this spring will receive a diploma.

WVBC has 20 days to appeal the decision. College President John Tarr didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Higher Ed. Agencies Push Back Against Legislative Audit

The two panels that oversee West Virginia’s higher education institutions responded to a performance review from the Legislative Auditor’s office Monday in an interim meeting with the Joint Standing Committee on Education.

The report was first released in January 2016 and calls for significant changes to the way the two organizations are structured, including urging lawmakers to rethink the amount the agencies are funded each year.

The performance review criticizes the Higher Education Policy Commission and the Council for Community and Technical College Education, and says the two agencies aren’t meeting their expectations according to state law.

Legislative auditors say the $3.5 million used to fund the agencies each year is excessive, and the report also suggests the Commission and Council be given less authority overall.

West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission Chancellor Paul Hill says the auditors who wrote the report don’t understand the two agencies.

“We also believe the review presents limited understanding of the structure of the two higher education systems and how the current coordinating function was established by the West Virginia Legislature,” Hill said.

Jessica Kennedy, the Director of Communications and Outreach at the Higher Education Policy Commission, said in an email Tuesday that Monday’s meeting was not the first time lawmakers heard the HEPC’s response to the report. She said the HEPC “responded in writing within days of the auditor’s findings and have addressed the issue in several legislative committee meetings since then.”

Sarah Tucker is the Chancellor of the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education. She argues the report overlooks the most important function her agency performs.

“Every year for the past six years, we’ve increased our number of graduates; every single year. To me, that is the single most important measure of success,” Tucker explained, “and so to say that we’re not holding our institutions accountable, because they don’t meet every single sub-category of every single measure on the compact, I think is unfair, because what I care about is student success.”

The review released by the Legislative Auditor says according to state law, the Commission and Council should be overseeing the budgets of their schools, but in an exchange with Chris Carney, Research Analyst for the Legislative Auditor’s office, Senator Mike Romano points out that might be, because lawmakers are not allowing the Commission and Council to have that power.

Lawmakers did not come to a conclusion during Monday’s meeting, but should they decide to make changes to the structure of either organization, they would need to approve legislation during the 2017 session.

This story was updated on September 20, 2016 to reflect the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission’s response.

Committee Names 3 Finalists for BridgeValley President

A presidential search committee for BridgeValley Community and Technical College has announced three finalists for the post.

The school is seeking a successor to retiring president Jo Harris.

The finalists are Eunice Bellinger, who has held upper-level administrative positions at several colleges; Cindy Kelley, vice president for academic affairs at Motlow State Community College in Tennessee; and Johnny Moore, special assistant to the president at Northeast Texas Community College.

The finalists will participate in open forums with administrators, employees, students and the public. Moore is to be on campus on Tuesday, Bellinger on Thursday and Kelley on April 25.

The Board of Governors will forward its recommendation to the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education for final approval.

Community, Technical Colleges Raise Number of Degrees Given

West Virginia’s community and technical colleges have increased the number of degrees awarded in the last five years, despite drops in the student success rate and student retention.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the college system’s chancellor Sarah Armstrong Tucker announced Thursday that the nine-college system has given out 19,000 degrees since 2010. Of those, more than 13,000 were associate degrees.

In 2010, the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education set out to increase the number of degree holders.

The system’s actual student success rate dropped from 31.5 percent to 29.5 percent even though, according to council data, 71.4 percent of graduates are employed.

The system also experienced a 20 percent drop in student enrollment. Five years ago, enrollment was 27,000, while today it’s at 21,040.