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The local region has received some good news in the month of August, as both Davis & Elkins College and West Virginia Wesleyan College have shared reports of strong enrollment .
In Upshur County, WVWC is reporting an enrollment increase for the second year in a row.
More than 360 new undergraduate students arrived on campus earlier this week for Orientation Weekend activities. WVWC officials say enrollment is up 5% over 2023, and up 10% over 2022.
The new students coming to WVWC are from 28 states and 13 countries, with 40 West Virginia counties represented. WVWC has seen a 20% increase in enrollment of freshman West Virginia residents over 2023, officials said.
In Randolph County, D&E is celebrating its highest retention rate in nearly a decade. The college's student body includes representation from more than 70 percent of West Virginia, 75 percent of the U.S., and nearly a quarter of the countries in the world.
D&E welcomes a diverse and vibrant incoming freshmen class equally representative of the Mountain State, the United States, and a global population.
This week, D&E also announced fundraising for the most recent fiscal year set a school record. The college raised $18,529,396 between July 1, 2023, and June 30 this year, surpassing the previous record of $16,784,848 set just one year ago.
Enthusiastic support from many alumni drove the record-breaking results for the $25 million multi-year initiative dedicated to building The Freshman Village on the D&E campus.
All this happy education news stands in stark contrast to the tragic end of Alderson Broaddus University in Barbour County.
In August 2023, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission voted to revoke Alderson Broaddus' authorization to confer degrees in the state.
The school quickly closed, and within weeks filed for bankruptcy.
The shockingly quick demise of Alderson Broaddus, and the hole it has left in Barbour County's economy, shows what can happen when higher education institutions go off the rails financially.
We are very encouraged by the latest reports from D&E and WVWC, and hope the upward trends continue.