West Virginia
State University
Public College in Institute, WV. Six-year graduation rate 39%. Median 10-year earnings $40,492.
Ten-year median earnings of $40,492 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Only 39% finish within six years, so roughly three in five students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Graduates carry a median of $23,338 in debt — in line with the national norm.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
With an acceptance rate of 96%, West Virginia State University takes nearly everyone who applies. 6,163 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. A 6% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 2% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 410–550 | 6 (2%) |
| SAT Math | 350–490 | |
| ACT Composite | 15–20 | 6 (2%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at West Virginia State University →Academics
Completion is the problem here: 39% graduate within six years. 57% first-year retention is low enough to be the defining risk of enrolling here. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. 15% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. At 13:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,328 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $11,055 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. Net price varies modestly by income — $9,457 at $0–30k against $17,355 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. About 81% get grants averaging $10,186, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. About 45% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 314 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $9,457 |
| $30–48k | $10,225 |
| $48–75k | $10,703 |
| $75–110k | $13,798 |
| $110k+ | $17,355 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 596 of these 1,328 students, totalling $4,742,024 — an average of $7,956 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Kanawha County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
Heightened Cash Monitoring (Default Rate); School placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)