West Virginia University Board of Governors Chair Rick Pill submitted the following letter to the WVU community today (Dec. 5).
Dear West Virginia University Community,
As we approach the year’s end, I’m eager to reflect on the strengths of our University and clarify our latest enrollment numbers, which are, in fact, just shy of our budgeted projections.
From securing record-high retention numbers and a strong financial footing to developing innovative student success programming and raising unprecedented dollars through the WVU Foundation, West Virginia University remains the formidable, flagship, land-grant institution that we all know and love.
Our WVU family can have confidence that our University is heading into 2025 from a position of strength. Some of our points of pride in 2024 include:
• A multi-year focus on student success programming is fueling improved retention and graduation rates. We just hit a historic freshmen retention rate of 83.4% this fall, reflecting an increase of 2% over last year, while our four-year graduation rate has improved by 1.3%, from 50.8% to 52.1%. Our six-year graduation rate has also improved by 2.7%, from 61.1% to 63.8%, over the last two years.
• The WVU Foundation saw record fundraising in 2024, raising $282.6 million, and set new records for dollars raised and gifts received during the annual Day of Giving.
• Our financial position and long-term outlook for West Virginia University remain strong. Unlike some of our peers within higher education, we have maintained stable bond ratings with both S&P and Fitch, re-affirming our A and AA- ratings, respectively. We also just received a clean financial independent audit from CliftonLarsonAllen.
• We continue to strategically manage our finances so we can remain a sought-after, relevant, affordable and accessible institution while serving the needs of our students and our state. The cost of a WVU degree compared to the national average four-year school is 29% less, according to U.S. News & World Report, and in May 2024, 43% of WVU System graduates earning bachelor’s degrees had zero federal student loan debt.
• A new annual health check on all academic departments and their programs will help us optimize our academic resources and identify investment opportunities to generate better learning outcomes, more career pathways and experiential learning opportunities. By aligning programs with student, employer and state demands, we are differentiating ourselves from peer institutions in the fields of forensics, robotics, cybersecurity, neuroscience, nursing and many more.
• By investing in student experiences and the recruitment and retention of top-tier faculty members, we are customizing academic resources that are helping us shatter the University's research expenditure records for the second consecutive year. This success is an outcome of our Research 1 designation, placing us in the highest tier of research universities in the United States.
• Students and faculty are serving the land-grant mission to help the state through these research opportunities.
* Biochemistry major Zach Ellis is presenting his groundbreaking Huntington’s disease research nationwide, while our faculty are leveraging funding to pioneer trailblazing research and share a growth of knowledge in 76 countries across six continents.
* Shaw Prize recipients Duncan Lorimer and Maura McLaughlin contribute to that world-class research reputation through the discoveries of fast radio bursts and the detection of gravitational waves, while assistant professor Chris Ramezan is leading a first-of-its-kind, $1.5 million center to improve the cybersecurity and cyber-resilience of businesses across the Mountain State.
• And we remain on track to recruit a strong candidate pool as we search for our next University President who can lead with the right balance of strength and humility to manifest a positive, compelling vision for our University’s and our state’s future. We look forward to welcoming that person to join our Mountaineer family.
Our enrollment numbers also are just shy of our targeted goal, though we recognize there may have been some misunderstanding regarding our enrollment data following the recent presentation to Faculty Senate.
During his presentation, Vice Provost Mark Gavin shared the University’s budgeted headcount for Fall 2024 alongside the actual headcount for the same period.
This table illustrates this comparison, showing that we nearly achieved our targeted budget enrollment projections, with a variance of only 0.8%.
It’s important to clarify that three special categories of students — dual-access high school students, certain professional development participants and senior citizens — are excluded from our financial and budget analyses due to their minimal revenue contribution. However, these categories are included in the total enrollment figures reported publicly to HEPC.
The second table provides a comparison of the total enrollment, with those special student categories included, for Fall 2024 versus Fall 2023.
The distinction between these two sets of enrollment numbers has contributed to some confusion, particularly when comparing the actual enrollment data used for financial planning with the broader enrollment figure reported to HEPC. In some cases, this has led to an incorrect assertion that our total enrollment declined by 7%.
To clarify, when comparing HEPC-reported enrollment for Fall 2023 to HEPC-reported enrollment for Fall 2024 — an accurate apples-to-apples comparison — the actual decline is 3%.
We are actively counteracting this trend in several ways, from a robust recruitment strategy and new programs that appeal to students and employers, to the launch of our newest WVU Degree Up program that uniquely partners with statewide community and technical colleges to allow us to expand our access mission to a broader population of students. This is a testament to how our land-grant mission guides us.
The future is bright. Our University remains strong and resilient. We are facing the headwinds of higher education with clear eyes and a determined spirit going into 2025.
I call on our WVU community to move forward together into a hopeful future that will be guided by the announcement of a new WVU President in a few short months.
Our collective grit, determination and Mountaineer spirit will continue to serve as our guiding light in the months and years ahead.
I wish you a blessed and merry holiday season. Let’s go!
Richard Pill
Chair, WVU Board of Governors
-WVU-
rp/12/5/24
MEDIA CONTACT: April Kaull
Executive Director of Communications
WVU Strategic Communications and Marketing
304-293-3990; April.Kaull@mail.wvu.edu
Call 1-855-WVU-NEWS for the latest West Virginia University news and information from WVUToday.