CHARLESTON – West Virginia University is financially struggling, resulting in a budget hole, cuts to programs and staff, and tuition increases.

But data shows that WVU has done little to slow its spending and hiring of non-faculty employees over the years.

The WVU Board of Governors approved a $1.256 billion budget on June 23 for fiscal year 2024 beginning Saturday, a 4% increase from its current $1.207 billion budget.

“This process is obviously challenging and at times painful for the University community,” said WVU President E. Gordon Gee in a statement last week. “It is, however, necessary that we reposition ourselves today to be a responsive, relevant university system of the future.”

WVU is attempting to fill a nearly $45 million hole in its budget caused by increases in expenses and projected decreases in student enrollment. While $33 million of that will come from the WVU Foundation, some of the difference will come from a nearly 3% increase in resident and out-of-state tuition.

“We take every tuition increase very seriously, but we work diligently to leverage federal, state and externally funded financial aid to our students so the cost is manageable,” said Paula Congelio, vice president and chief financial officer at WVU.

The remaining balance is being made up from salary and wage cuts, with more than 130 positions (38 of which are faculty members) being cut. The university also is cutting 12 graduate and doctorate programs.

Additional university programs are being reviewed, Maryanne Reed, WVU’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, said.

“Our second review of all academic programs is well underway, with the added goal of creating a smaller and more focused program portfolio, aligned with student demand, career opportunities and market trends,” Reed said.

WVU, like all of the state’s public higher education institutions, has seen reductions in funding from West Virginia’s general revenue budget. While lawmakers have reversed some of those funding cuts, staffing across WVU’s campus has largely remained static over the last 12 years while student enrollment has steadily decreased and tuition has increased, creating a perfect storm.

“I think the world of Gordon Gee…and the university system we have going here, but you can’t be operating on tradition and the way it’s been done in the past,” said Senate President Craig Blair in a phone interview Thursday. “The future is changing.”

BY THE NUMBERS

When WVU began the 2013 fiscal year covering the fall 2012 and spring 2013 semesters, its budget was $917 million. The $1.256 billion budget approved for fiscal year 2024 represents a 37% increase from that $917 million budget 12 years ago.

Looking at the number of employees at WVU over a 10-year period, the total number has changed very little, though growth in non-classified employees, some of the highest paid positions at WVU, such as vice presidents, deans, and other administrative positions, exploded.

According to the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, the number of employees in 2012 between WVU’s main campus in Morgantown, Potomac State University at Keyser and WVU Institute of Technology at Beckley was 6,456 with 2,772 faculty, 2,786 classified employees, and 898 non-classified employees. By 2022, the total number of employees at WVU slightly dropped to 6,400, with 2,981 faculty (an 8% increase), 1,462 classified employees (a 48% decrease), and 1,957 non-classified employees (a 118% increase).

However, during a similar time period, fall headcount enrollment across WVU’s three campuses has gone down. Fall headcount enrollment was 32,839 for the 2012-2013 school year, but by the 2022-2023 school year, fall headcount enrollment dropped to 27,467, a 16% decrease.

And despite the decreasing student enrollment, WVU has often turned to tuition increases on in-state and out-of-state students. Except for fiscal year 2021 during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when the university limited access to campus, there has been a tuition increase every year for the last 12 years.

Per-semester undergraduate tuition for West Virginia residents at WVU rose by 58% between fiscal year 2013 and the approved budget for fiscal year 2024, from $3,045 per semester for state residents in fiscal year 2013 to $4,824 per semester for in-state students beginning this fall semester, a more than $1,700 increase over the last 12 years.

HISTORY CLASS

As a public university system, WVU receives a portion of its funding though the state’s general revenue budget as appropriated by the West Virginia Legislature and approved by the governor. That funding is down from where it was in fiscal year 2013, but state funding has been coming back up over the last six approved budgets.

Funding for WVU from the general revenue budget has dropped nearly 12% since sitting at a high of $129 million in fiscal year 2013 for WVU, WVU Tech and Potomac State. State funding for WVU dropped to a low of $102 million in fiscal year 2018, but state funding in the fiscal year 2024 general revenue budget beginning Saturday is $114.8 million, returning to levels not seen since fiscal year 2015.

State funding cuts for WVU and other public higher education institutions began in 2013 under former Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and the Democratic-controlled West Virginia Legislature. The state’s severance tax collections for coal and natural gas brought in less-than-expected revenues, resulting in budget cuts for fiscal year 2014. WVU’s state funding dropped by $10 million, from $129.7 million in fiscal year 2013 to $119.7 million in fiscal year 2014.

The fiscal year where state funding for WVU dropped to a low of $102 million occurred during Gov. Jim Justice’s first year in office in 2017. Then a Democrat, Justice faced a more than $500 million hole in the fiscal year 2018 budget, forcing him to propose a budget with tax increases and tapping into the state’s Rainy Day Fund. That put him into conflict with the Republican majority in the West Virginia Legislature, which proposed budget cuts.

The first budget approved by lawmakers during the regular 2017 legislative session was vetoed by Justice in a public ceremony with leaders around the state, including WVU President Gee, where Justice brought a silver platter of cow dung, calling the budget bill a “a bunch of political bull you-know-what.” In an earlier press release in March 2017, Justice attacked Republicans that year for cutting funding for the state’s public colleges and universities.

“The Republicans don’t want to let the people of West Virginia know just how destructive their cuts will be to higher education,” Justice said. “They need to own up to the fact that West Virginia’s schools can’t afford to take a hit like this and may result in several of them shutting their doors. If we strangle our schools into oblivion, it will hurt our students and the future of our workforce. It’s not right and the public needs to be aware of it.”

A special session was held in June 2017 a month prior to the beginning of the new 2018 fiscal year to approve a new $4.2 billion general revenue budget that included $16 million in cuts to higher education. Justice chose to let that budget become law without his signature.

Awaiting the outcome of the fiscal year 2017 state budget fight, WVU approved a $1.07 billion budget on June 29, 2017, accounting for the $102 million in state funding and approving a 5% tuition increase, resulting in a per-semester cost of $4,188 for state residents. In a statement at the time, Gee placed the blame for the tuition increase on the Legislature, likening it to a tax increase on state residents.

“We just raised taxes on every parent and student at this institution. We are raising taxes on individuals who can least afford it,” Gee said. “The future of this state depends on a lively, vibrant and strong university. This is not the kind of investment strategy (by the state), that will make this happen.”

After fiscal year 2018, state tax revenues began improving, with funding for the state’s 10 four-year colleges and universities and nine two-year community and technical colleges beginning to come back up. State funding for WVU in the new general revenue budget that began Saturday is $114.8 million which also includes an increase in the university’s land grant match of $8.5 million which brings with it matching federal dollars.

FORMULA FOR SUCCESS

Changes are also coming to how colleges and universities get state funding. The Legislature passed a bill in 2022 creating a performance-based public funding model for higher education. The Higher Education Policy Commission submitted its final rules for the model at the beginning of the year. Under the new rules, 30% of a college/university’s funding will come through the performance-based funding formula.

“It’s not about cutting or funding. It’s about getting the institutions working as research facilities and generating the revenues they need to be self-sustaining,” said Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, in a phone interview Thursday. “I believe that our universities are on that path, but you can’t come to the government looking for handouts all the time.”

Under the performance-based model, 30% of a college or university’s funding will be determined by a point system based on how many degrees a school awards, the number of graduates from programs of high-need in the state, and getting students considered “academically underprepared” their diplomas, and other factors. Data would be determined by HEPC using a three-year rolling average and other information.

Blair said time needs to be given to see how the performance-based funding model for colleges and universities works out. With young adults weighing the issues of student loan debt, the value of four-year degrees, the pandemic leading to technology that can replace the traditional classroom, and other issues, Blair said these pressures require changes in higher education.

“People are walking away from degrees and getting certifications instead,” Blair said. “The reason I say that is that no one likes student debt. It’s becoming overwhelming. Our institutions of higher learning are re-thinking and re-purposing how they are doing things in the state. I think it’s wonderful. It’s what we’re doing with state government.”