West Virginia University

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for West Virginia University

West Virginia University operates as a public institution located in Morgantown, West Virginia (city: small), with a total reported enrollment of 17,385 students of which 20,425 are undergraduates. Institution-level records in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) classify each school by Carnegie category, ownership sector, and urban/rural locale, which is how this profile’s peer group and cost cohort are determined. West Virginia University is categorized as “15” under the Carnegie classification system, a meaningful signal when comparing like-to-like institutions.

Selectivity and financial signals give context to what applicants can expect. The reported admission rate is 89.0%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 1,122 and an ACT midpoint of 24. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $15,634, with published in-state tuition of $10,104 and a Pell grant recipient share of 21.6%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $22,500, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 62.8%, and the first-year retention rate is 83.4%. Graduates earn a median of $55,939 ten years after enrolling, compared with $45,181 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 1061000.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 64.5% of graduates earn above the high-school threshold. Treating these numbers as a single snapshot alongside the cost cohort is the standard approach for evaluating ROI under the College Scorecard methodology.