What are the best colleges and universities in West Virginia if you reward schools for making the best use of their limited resources? Academic Stewardship asks how effectively schools manage their financial and human resources to gain the influence that makes them academically excellent. Schools that are exemplary in Academic Stewardship are doing everything in their power to help students and faculty achieve their full potential.
Colleges and universities in West Virginia deserve to be recognized when they do more with less. It’s impressive when a large wealthy school can spend money lavishly on expensive buildings and programs. But it’s even more impressive when a small school with limited means is able to train and inspire students that the larger wealthier schools tend to ignore.
The American Association of Colleges and Universities reported in late 2021 that almost 75 percent of higher-education professionals at US colleges and universities felt financial constraints prevented their schools from effectively attracting students. Distracted by the size and amenities of larger schools, prospective students tended especially to be overawed by the big research universities.
West Virginia’s smaller colleges, especially its liberal arts colleges, need effective ways of communicating their value to a world that celebrates “bigger is better” and “you need the best.” Unfortunately, most college ranking companies, such as U.S. News & World Report, define “best” in a way that devalues schools with smaller budgets and fewer students even when these schools do remarkable work in advancing their students’ education. By and large, college rankings penalize schools that serve underserved populations.
Inspired by Malcolm Gladwell, who for years now has criticized conventional college rankings for misrepresenting what’s good and valuable in education, we decided to construct a new ranking metric that highlights those schools that do more with less. That metric—called the Academic Stewardship metric—takes away both the size and the wealth advantage of schools, and focuses instead on how well schools use the resources available to them to advance the education of their students.
As a metric, Academic Stewardship is defined by a precise mathematical formula, which can be found in our Academic Stewardship white paper. Measuring the Academic Stewardship of West Virginia’s colleges requires measuring two forms of stewardship: 1) Stewardship of financial resources (using the money they have responsibility without waste) and 2) Stewardship of human resources (doing their best to help students, faculty, and administration to flourish). Together, these two types of stewardship form what we call Academic Stewardship. If you want to learn more about the factors involved in Academic Stewardship, click the more button below.
Academic Stewardship as so defined is connected to keeping tuition and other costs down, but it should not be confused with affordability or frugality. The schools that this metric ranks as exemplary academic stewards tend to be all over the map when it comes to tuition and other costs. At issue is the influence of schools given the financial and human resources they have on hand. If a school is going to charge more for tuition, then that needs to be reflected in the school having proportionately greater influence.
The benefits of attending a school with strong academic stewardship include:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
89%
Graduation
30%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
965/19
West Virginia State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
61%
Graduation
46%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1041/21
University of Charleston’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
89%
Graduation
50%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1045/22
Marshall University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
62%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/24
West Virginia University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
32%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
880/18
Bluefield State College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
91%
Graduation
38%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1000/20
Concord University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Graduation
32%
Student body
1K
Glenville State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Graduation
48%
Student body
35K
American Public University System’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
95%
Graduation
25%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1045/20
Ohio Valley University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
98%
Graduation
46%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1070/22
Shepherd University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$29K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
42%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1020/20
Wheeling University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
94%
Graduation
35%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1010/20
Fairmont State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$30K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
48%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1030/20
Davis & Elkins College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
55%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1030/21
West Virginia Wesleyan College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
55%
Graduation
28%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1030/21
West Virginia University Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
43%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1005/19
Bethany College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$5K
Graduation
24%
Student body
1K
Potomac State College of West Virginia University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
35%
Student body
2K
West Virginia University at Parkersburg’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$17K
Graduation
32%
Student body
<1K
Salem University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
53%
Student body
2K
West Liberty University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$30K
Acceptance
53%
Graduation
32%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
960/19
Alderson Broaddus University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
West Virginia has 20 public higher education institutions, all at a sticker price of $9,000 or less, making it one of the more affordable states to earn a degree. With over 25,000 students in attendance, West Virginia University is the largest and charges $9,000 in tuition. Aside from the community and state colleges, six other public universities have populations ranging from about 2,100 to just over 10,000, and all schools have a tuition rate of about $8,000.
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The state is also home to 12 private schools, eight of which are religiously affiliated. The University of Charleston is the largest private university, but its student population is still small. About 2,000 students take classes in fields such as chemistry, political science, and history, and the tuition totals $21,000. At $32,000 in tuition and fees, West Virginia Wesleyan College is the most expensive, but its student population is only slightly above 1,300.
As the only state contained entirely within the Appalachian range, West Virginia is rightfully nicknamed The Mountain State. Those who love the outdoors will feel at home hiking through the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve or skiing at Canaan Valley Ski Resort. History buffs can visit Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, where they can take a walk through life in the 1800s. In addition, the state offers over 30 private and public colleges and universities to those looking to earn an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree.
Check out the state’s top programs and see why West Virginia could be a good fit for your educational goals and budget.