PARKERSBURG – The changing face of higher education is starting to recognize what community colleges bring to overall student outcomes, the president of WVU Parkersburg told the Board of Governors.

WVU Parkersburg President Torie Jackson spoke Tuesday about how there is a growing recognition nationally of the value community colleges bring the students they serve and how measuring that success has been incomplete.

“For years we’ve relied heavily on graduation rates,” Jackson said in prepared notes from Tuesday’s college Board of Governors meeting. “But those rates focus on a very narrow population–typically full-time, first-time students–and define success only as completing a degree within a set time frame.”

She cited how students in their Chemours incumbent worker program are left out of these metrics.

“For community colleges, that leaves out a significant portion of who we serve and what we do,” she said.

A new national perspective outlined in the 2025 Survey of Community College Outcomes expands the definition of success in a meaningful way by including students who earn credentials, those who transfer and those who persist and continue making progress toward their goals, Jackson said.

“When success is measured using this broader, more accurate framework, the success rate for community colleges rises from roughly 33.7% under traditional graduation metrics to approximately 49.9% overall, and as high as 57% for full-time students,” she said.

Under the IPEDS system–a system of 12 interrelated survey components conducted annually that gathers data from every college, university, and technical and vocational institution that participates in the federal student financial aid programs–the criteria are restricted to just “entering” students, which only include first-time freshmen and new transfer students, according to Jackson.

The results she referenced were part of the Outcomes Measures Survey which looks at people who completed their education after eight years since entering college, she said.

Taking into account all students they have, in the Fall 2017 term, WVU Parkersburg had a completion rate of all degree-seeking students at 59%, compared to the 45.1% reported in IPEDS, Jackson said adding the completion rate for full-time students was 67.5%, while the rate for part-time students was 46.9%.

“That is a dramatic difference,” she said. “It tells us that when we measure what truly matters we see that nearly half, or more, of our students are achieving meaningful outcomes.

“This matters especially in rural communities like ours.”

Community colleges are “uniquely positioned to be accessible, approachable, nimble, and deeply invested in the regions they serve,” she said.

“National data shows that only about 47% of community college students are traditional, degree-seeking students,” she said. “The rest are engaged in other important pathways such as dual enrollment, short-term workforce training, upskilling and reskilling.”

In academic year 2025, 38% of WVU Parkersburg’s students were traditional, degree-seeking students, while 27% were nontraditional (over 24 years of age). Dual enrollment students made up 28%, professional credit workforce program enrollments made up 6%, and the remaining 1% were non-matriculated students.

“At WVU Parkersburg, this is exactly who we are, though I recognize it may sound somewhat counterintuitive to say at a time when we are preparing to celebrate what is expected to be our largest graduating class in the institution’s history,” Jackson said. “We are not solely a degree-granting institution.

“We are a pathway institution. That shouldn’t be confused with being simply a transfer institution. It means we are intentionally designed to meet students where they are and move them forward,” she said.

The Higher Learning Commission now recognizes “professional credit,” for people getting training for employment as colleges like WVU Parkersburg are preparing individuals for immediate entry into the workforce, advancement within their careers and continued educational attainment, Jackson said adding these programs help meet the local workforce needs.

Jackson points to their new Innovation and Technology Center where they are bringing together academic programs, workforce training, and industry in a way that reflects exactly where national thinking is going.

It means students gaining skills that could lead to employment, students advancing in their current careers and students transferring and continuing their education.

“Whether it is a student earning an associate degree, a high school student getting a head start through dual enrollment, or an adult learner completing short-term training tied directly to employment–each of those outcomes represents success,” Jackson said. “As we continue aligning our institutional metrics, strategic priorities, and messaging with this broader definition of success, WVU Parkersburg is well positioned within the national conversation.”

Contact Brett Dunlap at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com