The Committee on the College at Wise met Friday morning to discuss enrollment growth, housing capacity and financial stability, with College at Wise officials pointing to record-setting endowment numbers and a growing student body as signs of progress.
The Committee on the College at Wise is a standing committee of the Board of Visitors that oversees matters specific to the College at Wise. The school is located in Southwest Virginia and plays a central role in expanding access to higher education for students in the Appalachian region.
College of Wise Chancellor Donna Price Henry told the Board that the College at Wise’s endowment has grown from $96 million in 2019 to nearly $189 million this year.
“When I came to U.Va. Wise in 2013, there were $45 million dollars in the endowment,” Henry said. “If you look around the Commonwealth, there are some other schools that are much larger than us, and I’m happy to say that our endowments are larger than theirs … so we are punching above our weight at U.Va. Wise.”
For example, the University of Mary Washington, which has 3,800 students, only has an endowment of $77.6 million, despite having double the student population of the College at Wise.
Henry also presented to the Board a report regarding the College at Wise’s Honor the Future campaign. This fundraising campaign launched in 2019 and is designed to support scholarships, athletics, student academic support, professors and capital improvements. The campaign set a goal of $100 million, and according to Henry, they raised a total of over $131 million from thousands of alumni, parents, community members and corporate partners.
Henry also highlighted improvement in enrollment and student support. Degree-seeking enrollment rose to 1,287 students this fall, which is up from last year’s 1,160, with the number continuing to grow even after the start of classes, as the College at Wise offers rolling admission.
According to the presentation, 569 students are currently enrolled in non-degree programs, primarily online courses for teachers across the Commonwealth seeking certification or recertification. Henry noted that due to lagging data the figure has continued to climb, reaching more than 900 as of Friday.
65 students are completing the “Year in Wise” program, which is a program that allows waitlisted University students to spend a year attending the College at Wise and then come to the University after completing 30 credit hours and maintaining a GPA of at least 3.0. Last year, there were 105 students participating in the Year in Wise program.
Henry explained that about 70 percent of full-time students at the College at Wise are Pell Grant eligible, meaning a large share of the student body demonstrates exceptional financial need under federal guidelines, making the College’s efforts to reduce student debt especially important. She also explained that part of the reason the College is seeing higher enrollment is because of financial sustainability initiatives introduced.
“Some of the drivers of our success that we believe are that we eliminated admissions fees, largely because those were barriers to access to the College,” Henry said. “For the past two years, we've held tuition flat. We believe that has helped with access for students … and our support from the Commonwealth has allowed us to do that.”
Looking ahead in enrollment, Henry noted that in the next five years, they would like to see the student population grow to about 3,000, up from 1,922 currently. She also detailed that this goal is dependent upon the construction of new buildings and housing units.
Housing demand has also surged alongside enrollment. The College at Wise now exceeds its 604 official housing capacity. According to the presentation, they have expanded housing by 80 beds through College-run apartments and townhouses. Henry explained that there is now a growing desire to live on-campus, as opposed to locally and off-campus.
“What we're doing this year is really studying housing and deciding whether we need to build some new housing on campus and I think we probably do,” Henry said.
Henry also explained that they are working closely with Jennifer Wagner Davis, executive vice president and chief operating officer, because the University currently has leftover athletic modular units — or adaptable athletic facilities — that may be suitable for housing the College at Wise’s football program temporarily as they manage their growth.
Jeffrey Baylor, Vice Chancellor for enrollment management, presented a recruitment update to the Board, crediting both new technology and increased investment from the University in boosting recruitment. Baylor said the College at Wise averaged around 1,500 applications before 2020, and has now surpassed 6,400 applications as of last year.
“Why did we do that? When you increase applications by 400% we have to find a way to process those applications quickly, and it did not make sense to go out and hire a bunch of people because we didn't know if we could maintain,” Henry said.
In fall 2025, out of the 5,210 applications received, only 1,844 applicants were admitted, with 596 students actually attending. There was a 41 percent increase in transfer students attending the College at Wise after admittance, with 211 attending this fall and 147 attending last fall.
The average high school GPA for fall 2025 enrolled first-years was 3.67. This number is mostly consistent with the previous incoming first-year classes, with last year’s average being 3.69.
Baylor also emphasized the College’s success in expanding financial aid while cutting student borrowing. As of the 2024-2025 school year, the College received $4.8 million in Pell Grants, with 910 unique recipients. This has increased by more than $1 million, receiving a total of $3.8 million for the 2023-2024 school year.
“I've never been able to achieve this type of success in terms of federal funding,” Baylor said. “So the initiatives that we have in place to attract more Pell students are working, and we're very excited about doing that.”
Baylor went on to explain that the number of students with student loans has decreased since 2021. The average amount of debt per student for the 2024-2025 school year is $6,189, which is significantly lower compared to the national average annually of $39,000 per borrower.
Looking ahead, Baylor said his office will continue refining scholarship models and leveraging artificial intelligence in recruitment. Last year, the College at Wise introduced “TJ,” an AI recruiter that interacts transparently with prospective students.
“Last year, we did initiate an AI recruiter that helped us with the increase in applications, and that was really nice, because the AI recruiter had conversations on the phone with prospective students or applicants,” Baylor said.
The Committee praised the progress, calling the College at Wise’s challenges “happy problems” compared to many regional colleges facing declining enrollment. The Committee on the College at Wise will reconvene Dec. 4 and 5 for the next meeting of the Board.
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