During the Board of Visitors’ Committee on the College at Wise meeting Friday, the Board heard a presentation from Chancellor of Wise Donna Henry regarding current enrollment statistics and how the school’s tuition compares to other public institutions in the state of Virginia. The committee additionally approved two new master's programs for the College at Wise.
The Committee on the College at Wise is tasked with aiding the Chancellor of the College at Wise in raising concerns to the Board. The school is located in Southwest Virginia and helps to expand access to higher education for students in the Appalachian region.
Friday’s meeting included a report from Henry regarding enrollment statistics and demographic trends for the College at Wise. She said enrollment has remained steady and, currently, the school has 2,235 students enrolled, with around 85 percent of those students being in-state.
There are 334 students who are considered out-of-state. However, only 100 of those students pay out-of-state tuition, with the rest being from the Appalachian region, where students receive in-state tuition under a regional agreement.
Henry also spoke on what she characterized as an encouraging recent uptick in new first-year enrollment, and noted this growth is especially seen by students enrolling to begin in the spring semester. She said the school has 75 incoming students to begin this spring, which is higher than in previous years when the school was only receiving between 30 and 50 spring enrollments.
Of all students enrolled in the school, 927 are from Southwest Virginia. Henry highlighted the growth in enrollment, specifically for students from this area.
“We are at about 5.5 percent growth over last year for our total degree-seeking undergraduates,” Henry said. “From Southwest Virginia alone, we have seen about 2 percent growth.”
Henry also said women make up about 67 percent of undergraduate degree-seeking students. She said that this trend of higher female enrollment is also present among non-degree-seeking students, such as teachers pursuing recertification.
After giving the Chancellor’s report, Henry discussed future projects the school is pursuing. Henry identified a lack of housing and space for faculty offices as the primary limitation on further enrollment growth, so she said the school plans to add 80 beds next fall and is working on a new campus plan.
Henry also commented on the tuition for the College at Wise compared to other public institutions in Virginia, and the College at Wise’s position as one of the most affordable. The current tuition at Wise is $5,890 per semester for in-state students, $6,254 per semester for ARC residents and $14,005 per semester for out-of-state students. This is about half of the semesterly rates for the University’s main campus students, which makes the College at Wise the third most affordable public college in Virginia, behind Norfolk State University and Virginia State University.
Also during Friday’s meeting, the Committee approved two Masters programs to be added to the school’s curriculum. Both of these programs — the Master of Technology Management and Data Analysis and the Master of Science in Nursing with a focus on Family Nurse Practitioners — were already approved by the Committee during the Board’s June 2024 meeting.
Following that approval last year, the programs were submitted to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. However, the programs required re-approval from the Board Friday because it had been over one year since the proposals were submitted to SCHEV.
Provost of Wise Gary Johnson, led the presentation of the programs, reintroducing them to the Board and expressing hope about their passage by SCHEV this time.
“You have blessed these before, and we are grateful for that, and asking for that one more time so that we can submit these to SCHEV,” Johnson said.
Both programs received unanimous Board approval during Friday’s meeting with no debate. The Committee did not meet in closed session Friday.
The Committee on the College at Wise will meet at the next meeting of the Board March 5 and 6.
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