Commission Works on Higher Education Funding Formula

The governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Four-Year Higher Education has recommended a $10 million annual funding increase for West Virginia’s smaller colleges. The Gazette-Mail reported that the proposal would distribute the dollars using the state budget surplus. Among the recommendations: $553,000 to Bluefield State College, $1.6 million to Concord University, $3.4 million to Fairmont State University, Zero to Marshall University, –$860,000 to West Virginia State University, and Zero to West Virginia University and the WV Institute of Technology. Blue Ribbon panel members have said the new recommendation is meant to set new base budgets for future years and is based on the state funding per full-time equivalent in-state student method. The panel is asking Gov. Jim Justice to let its members work on a longer-term funding formula for roughly another year after the Dec. 10 due date Justice set for the panel’s report.