West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission Story Archives

Shepherd University Secures 3 Years Of Funding For Student Research

A new $160,000 grant from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission will fund three years of a student research program at Shepherd University in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle.

A new grant from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) is furthering student research in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle.

The Shepherd Opportunity to Attract Research Students (SOARS) program pairs students with university faculty for summer research projects, providing them a stipend for their work.

A new HEPC grant of more than $160,000 will allow the program to continue for the next three years.

Participants in the program select a scientific research project they want to work on alongside a professor, receiving mentorship over the course of the summer.

At summer’s end, students have the opportunity to present their research. Later, they complete a capstone project from their findings.

This marks the fifth cycle of the SOARS program, which welcomes 30 students in each round of the grant.

“Students who are paid on the SOARS grant in the summer have extra hours and bits and pieces that they can do,” said Robert Warburton, dean of Shepherd’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Nursing, in a Monday press release.

“That means they get extra experience, and the faculty advisor gets assistants working in the lab, which is also important because the faculty must be able to do research because of their professional development requirements,” he said. “It’s a win on both sides.”

Higher Ed Provides Options For Alderson Broaddus Students

Chancellor of the Higher Education Policy Commission Sarah Armstrong Tucker said the dire state of the school’s finances brought this action by the commission.

Updated on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 at 4:47 p.m.

Monday, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) revoked Alderson Broaddus University’s authorization to award degrees in West Virginia.

These actions come as a result of the university’s outstanding utility bill of more than $775,000.

A few years ago, the private Baptist university was placed on notice by the commission over a financial shortfall. Last week, the City of Philippi informed the university that its utilities would be cut by Monday, July 31, if it fails to pay an outstanding bill of $775,598.70.

Chancellor of the Higher Education Policy Commission Sarah Armstrong Tucker said the dire state of the school’s finances brought this action by the commission.

“The commission did not believe, and I do not believe, that Alderson Broaddus would have been able to stay open for the course of the semester,” Tucker said. “As I [said] in the commission meeting, that is the worst-case scenario for their students.”

Student-athletes and international students will be arriving at the private school as soon as this week. Fall classes are set to start next month.

Tucker said students could lose federal aid and transfer credits if their school were to shut down mid-semester, so the commission stepped in.

“I’m certain that lots of students feel like this moment, maybe the worst-case scenario for them,” Tucker said. “But had we allowed the institution to bring students on the campus, and they failed in the middle of the semester, all of the money that students had paid, they would be out all of their federal financial aid.”

According to a statement from the Chairman of the Alderson Broaddus University Board of Trustees and Governors James Garvin, the board voted to develop a plan of dissolution for the university Monday night.

“The Alderson Broaddus Board of Trustees voted tonight to develop a plan of dissolution for the university in the aftermath of this afternoon’s decision by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. The Board and the administration will be communicating more tomorrow about its specific plans for assisting students, faculty and staff dealing with the changes resulting from today’s action by the HEPC.”

Since Monday’s action, schools throughout the Mountain State and beyond have offered assistance and options to the university’s roughly 800 students.

“Frankly, all of the private and public institutions in the state of West Virginia have stood up,” Tucker said. “They are all ready and willing to take students as transfer students and to make this happen as seamlessly as possible.”

The Higher Education Policy Commission worked directly with Davis and Elkins College and West Virginia Wesleyan College to offer scholarships and expedited enrollment for students who had planned to attend or return to Alderson Broaddus in the fall.

The following schools have issued releases stating their offerings for incoming Alderson Broaddus students:

West Virginia State University
- Will waive the application fees for Alderson Broaddus students and will provide an expedited transcript review to ensure admission for the fall 2023 semester.
Glenville State University
- President Dr. Mark Manchin has decided to award scholarships to all ABU students. In addition, GSU will guarantee housing placement and the school’s financial aid staff will help with equivalent financial aid packaging.
Davis and Elkins College
- Will provide students with a rapid admission process and offer the tools and resources for student success.
West Virginia Wesleyan College
- Will provide these students with fast and free priority applications and thorough transcript evaluations.
Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA
- Those students who reach out to Point Park will undergo an expedited process that will include a transcript review, financial aid package and discounted housing.
Frostburg State University, Maryland
- Frostburg State University’s Office of Admissions will host a virtual event exclusively for AB students on Thursday, Aug. 3, from 3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.
Shephard University
- AB students can apply to Shepherd for free and get priority transcript reviews to assess how many college credits may be applied toward their degree process. Shepherd is also guaranteeing on-campus housing availability and that any outside financial aid awarded to students, such as federal loan and grant programs and private scholarships – will be honored.

Watch The 2023 West Virginia Academic Showdown

The finals for the second annual West Virginia Academic Showdown begin Friday, March 31 at 8:30 a.m. West Virginia Public Broadcasting will live stream the event all day on YouTube and Facebook.

The finals for the second annual West Virginia Academic Showdown begin Friday, March 31 at 8:30 a.m.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting will live stream the event all day on YouTube and Facebook.

We are also broadcasting the event on The West Virginia Channel.

Launched in 2022, the West Virginia Academic Showdown is an academic head-to-head competition that brings West Virginia high school students from across the state together for regional matchups.

The Academic Showdown is a partnership between the West Virginia Department of Education, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, West Virginia Public Broadcasting, and the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History.

Watch the 2023 West Virginia Academic Showdown:

Three W.Va. Colleges Receiving $650,000 In Pandemic Relief Funds

Three higher education institutions in West Virginia are receiving a total of more than $650,000 from federal funds to respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funding goes to the New River Community and Technical College, Alderson Broaddus University and Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced this week.

The funding is through the U.S. Department of Education’s Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund and will support students and institutions affected by the pandemic, Manchin’s office said. West Virginia colleges and universities have received some $212 million from pandemic relief funding.

The awards are $353,749 to New River Community and Technical College in Beaver, $213,156 to Alderson Broaddus University in Philippi and $91,158 to Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College in Moorefield.

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.

W.Va.’s Higher Ed Leaders Approve New Nursing Programs At Concord, Glenville And University Status For Bluefield State

The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission on Thursday approved two new Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs for Concord University and Glenville State University.

Gov. Jim Justice in December announced the West Virginia Nursing Workforce Expansion Program, which aims to address the ongoing nursing shortage. He said in that press briefing that the state has seen 1,700 nurses leave the field, and it’s been compounded by the stress of the coronavirus pandemic.

But the hope is the expansion program will change this trend.

The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission on Thursday approved two new Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs for Concord University and Glenville State University.

“We are tremendously grateful to Gov. Justice for providing this historic funding to support the expansion of nursing education programs across West Virginia,” said Sarah Armstrong Tucker, West Virginia’s chancellor of higher education. “Through these new projects, our postsecondary education community will be better positioned to help shore up West Virginia’s nursing workforce, which, in turn, will help support our nurses working tirelessly on the front lines right now.”

The two new programs are among 27 nursing education programs at colleges, universities, schools of nursing, and career technical education centers across West Virginia that have received a total of $25.5 million through the governor’s nursing workforce expansion.

Concord will offer its own nursing program, while Glenville will offer its BSN through a partnership with Marshall University.

Concord’s BSN will be a 120 credit-hour program and will focus on meeting rural healthcare needs to help address the shortage of registered nurses in southern West Virginia.

Glenville State University will offer an educational opportunity that is not currently available in the central part of the state.

Concord’s BSN will begin in spring 2023, while Glenville’s will begin in the fall of that same year.

The HEPC on Thursday also approved university status for Bluefield State College.

The change will not go into effect until an official change is made by the school’s board of governors and the state legislature.

The criteria for university status, according to the HEPC, include offering at least one master’s-level degree program; having an approved mission statement that provides for the offering of graduate programs; obtaining the approval of the Higher Learning Commission to offer any master’s degree program; and having at least two-thirds of its faculty holding a terminal degree.