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WVU-P

West Virginia University-Parkersburg offers students a value not found in many other schools around the state. As Alice Harris, vice president of finance and administration, explained it, the tuition rates at WVU-P are 14 percent below the average of all the other community and technical colleges in the state.

It is not unreasonable, then, for such an institution, facing funding cuts and decreases in enrollment, to suggest small tuition and fee increases to make up some of the difference.

Harris is suggesting an increase of $12 per credit hour for certificate and associate programs, and $16.50 per credit hour for baccalaureate degree programs; and an increase in fees for online programs from $25 to $75, in addition to a few other minor fee increases that affect only a few students.

These increases would not mean WVU-P could avoid having to make budget cuts. But they would certainly make a difference in the school being able to continue to offer the quality of education and service to the community we have come to expect. Incidentally, the increases would also make it easier for some students to take full advantage of scholarships.

If WVU-P President Fletcher Lamkin is serious about maintaining the school’s tuition and fee levels at a few percentage points lower than similar institutions across the state, it makes sense for the State Community and Technical College System to approve Harris’s request, at its April meeting.

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