College profile
West Virginia State University
WV · Public · Mid-size suburb · 4,465 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 5× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full in-state ~$19,772/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$40,492/yr) still runs about 5× the four-year cost. This payoff doesn't depend on qualifying for anything. (Out-of-state costs more.)
- Worth asking: do students finish? Only 39% graduate within six years here — the standard federal measure. Ask what drives that: course availability, transfers out, students working long hours. Not finishing is the costliest outcome there is.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
AccessibleAccessible for most applicants. Affordable — net price averages ~$11,139/yr among aid recipients. Major value play for in-state residents.
Best for
- In-state residents (tuition ~$9,570 — major value play)
- Students focused on Business, Management, & Marketing (the school's signature program)
- Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 830, or ACT below 16 (test bands are the school's own; the GPA floor is our estimate, not a published figure)
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
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Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
24% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 8% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What West Virginia State University actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by West Virginia State University's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$326K ahead at full price +$360K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance, largely in-state for publics; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at West Virginia State University
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what West Virginia State University actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — West Virginia State University's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | $50,169 |
| Criminal Justice and Corrections. | $50,063 |
| Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities. | $47,026 |
| Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness. | $46,622 |
| Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods. | $43,924 |
| Psychology, General. | $42,434 |
| Social Work. | $41,571 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | $40,303 |
| Communication and Media Studies. | $37,866 |
| Fine and Studio Arts. | $22,764 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
AI program signal
AI + computing education at West Virginia State University
Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →
Alternatives to West Virginia State University
Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantWest Virginia State University is a public four-year college in WV. It admitted 96% of applicants (4,465 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 830–1073, ACT 16–22. 24% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 8% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Cost: about $11,139 a year on average with aid, $19,772 a year at full price for in-state students.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $40,492 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $360,364 ahead with aid, $325,832 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Business Administration, Management and Operations ($50,169); Criminal Justice and Corrections ($50,063); Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities ($47,026).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 14% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 10% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/west-virginia-state-university.json