Enrollment Drops at 4-Year Colleges

The number of students enrolled in West Virginia’s public four-year colleges has dropped, with about 250 fewer students enrolled this year than last. The Gazette-Mail reports that’s five straight years of enrollement declines. A new report by the state Higher Education Policy Commission shows the drop is because of a decrease in non-traditional students who returned to school after the 2008 recession but have since graduated. The number of first-time freshmen increased 3.7 percent compared to last year, but the overall rate is still down from previous years. The only schools to see significant enrollment gains were West Virginia State University and West Virginia University Institute of Technology.