Published: August 18, 2008 10:48 am            

W.Va. colleges struggling to get students

The Next Generation of West Virginians, to an alarming degree, is growing up in another state.

What that shakes out for colleges and universities is increased pressure to find innovative ways of luring them to campus and enrolling them as students.

Evidence of an anemic economy, West Virginians are pulling up stakes and heading for perceived greener pastures, taking a huge chunk of the future generation with them, says Rob Capehart, president of West Liberty State College.

Now mix in what arguably is the oldest population in the United States, and the difficulties are multiplied.

“Enrollment in a lot of state schools is struggling,” Capehart said in an interview last week.

“Part of the reason is because we have a declining 18-year-old population. The number of young people is just declining significantly. The people who would have been the 18-year-olds left the state 18 years ago, and so we have this declining enrollment.”

Back in 1976, the first class at Wheeling Park High boasted some 600 students. Today, that number has shrunk to about 370.

“When I went to John Marshall, we had 1,500 to 1,600 students in three grades,” Capehart said.

“Now there are 1,100 students in four grades. What you have in our area is a reflection of the way the economy has changed. And as a result, without that economic base, we have an older population.”

Decades ago, schools literally threw open the doors and the students appeared. Nowadays, schools must forage for fresh bodies to fill the seats of their classrooms.

In a less complicated era, colleges within a state competed with one another, and now, with technological advances, a new rival has emerged in cyberworld.

Capehart recently encountered a young woman running the checkout register at a mall store who had earned a teaching degree online from Western Governors University, founded by the chief executives of 19 western states. With an online degree in hand, she was preparing to become a teacher.

“Not only do we have this declining population, but competition in higher education is increasing significantly,” Capehart.

“You still have a large number of private schools. You have online schools.”

West Liberty and West Virginia University both have been spared the woes of diminished enrollment, largely because they offer specialized education, he said.

Moreover, West Liberty two years ago adopted a special “metro rate,” meaning if a student lives in a county that basically borders the Northern Panhandle, as some do in both Ohio and Pennsylvania, the tuition rate is cut. That means three rates are in force — in-state, out-of-state and metro rate. The newest wrinkle inspired a 28 percent increase in students from Ohio.

“Just doing those types of things you have to do to be competitive,” Capehart explained. “And you’ve always got the balance of demands for resources.”

There is more to enticing them with lower tuition, however.

West Liberty defines a handful of specific areas that make it unique and puts heavy emphasis on them, Capehart said.

“People are sitting around the Pittsburgh or Cleveland or Columbus area, or even in Charleston or Beckley, and they decide, for example, they want to go into communications,” he said.

Two years ago, West Liberty launched out into one of the more advanced communications facilities available, Capehart said.

As a result, for the first time, the West Virginia Broadcasters Association is holding its student broadcaster day on that campus — not WVU or Marshall.

“Part of the reason is the facility we offer and the quality of people we’ve brought in to teach our class,” Capehart said.



Capehart says the state needs to change its thinking on how dollars are invested if institutions of higher learning are to have a viable future.

Six years ago, he recalled, the Legislature passed out $200 million via an economic development grant committee.

“What has that $200 million produced?” he asked. “I don’t really know. But I know we’re not really moving. Out of that $200 million, only 5 percent of that money went to one health care facility, a hospital. If I was to tell you, if you want to subsidize, and that’s really what it is, an industry that creates high-paying jobs and there’s a huge demand in West Virginia, what would it be? With a lot of potential customers? Health care.

“Now, why are we subsidizing retail and strip malls, parking garages, and we’re not subsidizing a couple of things that can actually create high-paying jobs in health care?”

Capehart credited Gov. Joe Manchin for the “bucks for brains” concept that would plow money into research by institutions of higher learning, and that could lead to new jobs in West Virginia.

Research a few years ago showed 70 percent of all the new products created have their genesis in college campuses, he pointed out.

“And 90 percent of new jobs created stay in that community,” he said.

At WVU, research is helping fuel a virtual population explosion in Monongalia County, he said.

“Morgantown is booming,” he said. “You go to Morgantown, they’re out of space. They’re going up. They can’t go out any more. They’re running into rivers and hills. Part of the reason is the commitment they’ve made to research. Research creates new products. New products create new industry.”

Capehart applauded Manchin’s idea since it obligates private industry to put up some capital for meaningful research, unlike much of that done on the campus circuit by government for questionable projects.

“We don’t need to fund research on the mating habits of left-handed Methodists in Logan County,” Capehart said, mocking some bizarre uses of taxpayer money by government researchers.

“And there was something about the cows flatulating into the atmosphere and the amount of methane gas created.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com

        

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