Top colleges in West Virginia by 10-year ROI
Executive Summary
Bachelor’s-predominant institutions located in West Virginia with at least 200 students, sorted by the same 10-year ROI estimate used nationally. Wheeling University leads this list at $223,001 (10 Yr. ROI).
Leaders: top 3
Wheeling University
10 Yr. ROI
$223,001
Shepherd University
10 Yr. ROI
$215,690
West Virginia University Institute of Technology
10 Yr. ROI
$208,940
Top 17 Top colleges in West Virginia by 10-year ROI
| Rank | Institution | State | Control | Enrollment | 10 Yr. ROI | Also see |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wheeling University | WV | Private nonprofit | 589 | $223,001 | Grad 35.9% · Net $11,350 |
| 2 | Shepherd University | WV | Public | 2,344 | $215,690 | Grad 50.3% · Net $7,940 |
| 3 | West Virginia University Institute of Technology | WV | Public | 981 | $208,940 | Grad 29.9% · Net $14,942 |
| 4 | Marshall University | WV | Public | 7,266 | $195,954 | Grad 52.9% · Net $7,341 |
| 5 | West Virginia University | WV | Public | 17,385 | $193,550 | Grad 66.0% · Net $18,020 |
| 6 | West Liberty University | WV | Public | 1,511 | $183,334 | Grad 52.1% · Net $8,988 |
| 7 | Bluefield State University | WV | Public | 1,042 | $166,098 | Grad 33.5% · Net $11,130 |
| 8 | West Virginia Wesleyan College | WV | Private nonprofit | 954 | $165,986 | Grad 50.0% · Net $17,980 |
| 9 | Concord University | WV | Public | 1,504 | $164,036 | Grad 40.7% · Net $9,484 |
| 10 | Fairmont State University | WV | Public | 2,590 | $163,040 | Grad 55.4% · Net $14,599 |
| 11 | American Public University System | WV | Private for-profit | 40,074 | $161,564 | Grad 60.1% · Net $11,116 |
| 12 | Glenville State University | WV | Public | 1,096 | $156,084 | Grad 28.9% · Net $10,748 |
| 13 | University of Charleston | WV | Private nonprofit | 2,259 | $149,650 | Grad 46.7% · Net $23,793 |
| 14 | Salem University | WV | Private for-profit | 892 | $148,801 | Grad 24.3% · Net $12,107 |
| 15 | West Virginia State University | WV | Public | 1,321 | $138,222 | Grad 36.3% · Net $13,624 |
| 16 | Davis & Elkins College | WV | Private nonprofit | 661 | $129,580 | Grad 43.7% · Net $18,810 |
| 17 | Bethany College | WV | Private nonprofit | 614 | $124,668 | Grad 47.6% · Net $22,129 |
Method notes
- Underlying institution file: EDsmart Data processed College Scorecard extract merged to the IPEDS 2024 directory for HBCU and Carnegie fields.
- Cohort applied on this page: enrollment floor of 200 undergraduates; sorted highest first on 10 Yr. ROI; all 17 qualifying campuses are shown.
- Ties on the ranked metric are broken by enrollment, then institution name, so ranks stay stable between rebuilds.
- ROI column matches the processed college_roi_rankings series in this site build; see College Scorecard ROI methodology.
- How the 10-year ROI figure is built: median earnings reported 6, 8, and 10 years after entry (years 7 and 9 linearly interpolated) are summed across years 6–10, then average annual net price × typical years enrolled (five for bachelor’s-predominant campuses) is subtracted. It is a nominal-dollar gap—not discounted to present value, and it does not subtract earnings foregone while enrolled or compare against a no-college baseline. Campuses reporting only one of the three earnings years are excluded from these tables.
- School profile links use generated slugs; not every campus has a published profile page yet—use the Scorecard site as fallback.