West Virginia State University

Public · Moderately Selective · WV

Photo: Harper1040 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationWV · South

SettingSuburban

Undergrads1,321

Student:faculty13:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate30.4%

6-yr grad rate39.2%

Drop-out rate43.3%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$10k

Out-of-state tuition$15k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity38.3%

Gender diversity55.4%

International4.6%

IdentityHBCU

Overview

West Virginia State University, near Charleston, is a historically Black land-grant university founded in 1891. It today serves a largely commuter student body drawn from the Kanawha Valley while actively preserving its HBCU heritage and traditions.

Academics

Education, business, and criminal justice are the most popular undergraduate programs. As a land-grant institution, the university also carries a genuine agricultural research mission, with particular focus on supporting small and limited-resource farms in West Virginia and the surrounding region — applied, community-facing work rather than purely academic research.

Campus & student life

Much of the student body commutes from the Charleston area rather than living on campus, giving the school a different rhythm than a fully residential college; campus events and HBCU traditions provide the connective tissue for students who want a more involved campus experience.

Worth knowing

The land-grant agricultural mission is a distinctive, tangible part of the university's identity and worth knowing for students interested in agriculture, since it is not typical for a school this size, and the HBCU heritage remains active in campus culture despite the largely commuter population.

wvstateu.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate96%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 760–1040 · ACT 15–20

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying