Big universities in WV (Charleston, Huntington: apartment, rent, home)

[CTMountaineer]

"Big" is subjective, but most would agree that the more than 28,500 students at the Morgantown campus of West Virginia University would put it in the large category. There are several schools nationally that are much larger... Ohio State, South Florida, etc. but none of the other schools in the state are even close to being "big". The second largest has not yet released 2009 figures, but it is likely that main campus full time enrollment will not be in the 5 figures there and the third largest (Fairmont State) is also not in that league.

[Chriscross309]

only WVU is kinda big ----- 29,100 for year 2009

"WV standards"

[GottaHerdOn]

Originally Posted by CTMountaineer

"Big" is subjective, but most would agree that the more than 28,500 students at the Morgantown campus of West Virginia University would put it in the large category. There are several schools nationally that are much larger... Ohio State, South Florida, etc. but none of the other schools in the state are even close to being "big". The second largest has not yet released 2009 figures, but it is likely that main campus full time enrollment will not be in the 5 figures there and the third largest (Fairmont State) is also not in that league.

Enrollment is Movin on Up - News

Marshall is easily over 5 figures in enrollment. With grad, full, and part-time the enrollment is roughly 14,000 +-. Marshall is a good upper middle sized campus, and one of its main selling points for me was that its all inclusive. No need to drive to one campus in the morning then across town for another campus. It's all in one, also it's flat and hardly ever snows.

WVU is around 28,000, which also includes grad, full, and part-time students.

[CTMountaineer]

Marshall counts branch campus enrollments in their statistics. I agree that they will have a 5 figure enrollment, but not likely with full time students. I think the projections I heard were that they would have a couple hundred more in the freshman class this year, and they have been in the 9000s now for several years (full time). They are much more of a commuter school than Morgantown, which has comparitively fewer part time students. The same is true for Fairmont State which, while having fewer students than Marshall, has a higher percentage of full timers.

You could debate the advisability of Kopp's tuition discounts one way or the other, but it has resulted in a large number of part time out-of-state students going to Marshall. Ironton is closer to Huntington than it is to Athens, and teachers need to get their continuing education classes.

[David Kennedy]

With the word 'Big being subjective...and a 15 mile distance from the border being miniscule..CMU and Penn State sattelite campuses should be mentioned...If for no other reason, they give a student a greater choice in the NorCentral area.

A great job has been done with the Wv colleges..the extention campuses of FSU and WVU...
The international presence at Salem...
And the emergence and inclusion of the electronic campus.

What is left to do is close a few colleges that are unproductive and replace or adjust their cirriculum to the high school level and make them vo-tech or just associate degree community colleges.

And the final: Standardize college teaching positions into a same pay scale...

[mnmjack]

If you consider online universities, American Public University System (American Military University and American Public University) located in Charles Town, has over 50,000 students located around the world enrolled in accredited Associates, Bachelors Masters and Certificate programs.

[David Kennedy]

Thank for for that comment, mnmjack...I had forgotton about them and thought they were connected to the University of Maryland.

My son did 105 hours of Pre-Med classes and regular requirements with them when he was stationed in Italy.
Those credits were accepted by the UNY and Colorado State where he obtained his medical degrees.

A great way to spend some time in the service...going to school...never considered by our Wv youth.
I wonder what the high school 'Guidance Counselors are doing sometime...never giving the service any consideration.

The first 20 years of a persons life goes quickly...if a kid can lock in a pension of $50k, full health bene's and walk on to another specialized job with a Masters or Doctorate at age 38...why wouldn't he want to at least interview..

Education will unlock the entire world to its seeker...

[Justme2010]

Mr. Kennedy and all,

Thank you so much for the thoughtful inputs. Talking about joining the service and getting an education on GI bill or the like, I remember my landlady's daughter, Cameron, did exactly that for her medical doctor education...

And yes, online / distance education is a viable one too.

A challenge for me seems how to communicate with these college "kids" effectively.

[tbailey1138]

The best way to communicate with anyone is to find common ground. I'm sure that once you get onto the campus and get a sense of what that common ground might be, things will fall into place.

Also, in response to a previous post about commuter students:

commuter students- those who travel to campus each day for classes (i.e. that don't live in dorms)

Percentage of dorm rooms to total enrollment:

WVU can cover approximately 19% of its total enrollment meaning 81% commute

Marshall can cover approximately 19% of its total enrollment meaning 81% commute.

Seems to me that there isn't much more of a commuter school in Huntington based on how you actually measure wht a commuter is.

[Justme2010]

"common ground", excellent point, thought about that but didn't go further.

And thanks for the info of the commuter student ratio as well.