MONTGOMERY, W.Va. — BridgeValley Community and Technical College, which shares a campus in Montgomery with WVU Tech, has no plans to leave the city.
“We will continue to serve Fayette County and the other five counties in our service region,” President Jo Harris told MetroNews Tuesday afternoon. “We will continue our commitment to delivering associate degree education and workforce development for both Montgomery and South Charleston.”
WVU’s Board of Governors approved a plan Tuesday to move WVU Tech from Montgomery to Beckley by the 2017 fall semester. Residents are concerned about how the city can survive economically without Tech. U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said he was disappointed but optimistic.
“I am deeply saddened by the news of the closing of this historic educational institution in Montgomery,” he said as part of a statement. “However, after talking to (WVU) President (Gordon) Gee, I am optimistic that proper replacement options for the current students of WVU Tech will be made available quickly and that viable opportunities will be available for the city of Montgomery.”
Harris thought that WVU Tech’s loss could be BridgeValley’s gain in terms of enrollment.
“We will continue our relationship with WVU Tech. They are an excellent partner for us,” Harris said. “One thing we will continue to do is target the general education track; the transfer track if you will.”
She estimated that between BridgeValley’s South Charleston and Montgomery campuses and online students that the school’s enrollment was roughly 2,000, with about 500 to 600 in Montgomery alone.
Once the buildings used by WVU Tech are vacant, Harris didn’t rule out the possibility of using some of them but said no plans are in place right now.
“We would certainly consider but before we would attempt to do that we would have to have thorough information regarding the state of the buildings. Financially we certainly don’t have the means right now to do that.”
Harris pointed out that BridgeValley offers the opportunity for prospective college students to save a lot of money. Students can complete their first two years at BridgeValley to get general education requirements out of the way, and then transfer to a state university.