MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Looked at a certain way, Blue Ridge Community & Technical College is the third highest populated college in West Virginia.
Most recently, Blue Ridge had a headcount of 5,598 students. That’s inclusive of everything Blue Ridge offers, which means it includes not only students progressing toward degree programs but also those who are in other kinds of workforce training. It also includes some students still in high school.
“WVU and Marshall have us beat by a little bit,” said Leslie See, vice president of enrollment management at Blue Ridge.
West Virginia University has about 28,000 students enrolled at its Morgantown campus. Marshall University is a little over 13,500.
If you’re comparing more broadly than that, nearby Shepherd University has enrollment of about 4,300. Fairmont State University is about 4,500.
Blue Ridge is not only an attraction for students looking for paths toward careers. It’s also a partner in many of the Eastern Panhandle’s economic development activities. It’s an example of the potential that close observers of West Virginia’s community and technical college system tout.
“What a great partner they are. They’re incredible,” said Sandy Hamilton, executive director of the Berkeley County Development Authority.
Hamilton serves on an advisory board to help develop curricula to ensure what students learn meets the business needs of area employers such as Procter & Gamble. She said any time a new employer comes to town, she introduces them right away to Blue Ridge’s founding president, Pete Checkovich.
“They’re wonderful. They’re receptive and open and flexible to talk with anyone I put in front of them and let them know how they’re willing to work with them on the programs they offer to meet the need of the business,” Hamilton said.
The result, she said, is students who are better able to fit employers’ needs from the outset, rather than having to go through extensive training on the job.
“You’re better able to immediately have a career and do a job and have skills that are going to transfer into the workforce,” she said.
The technical college was once directly affiliated with Shepherd University. The two started to separate in 2005, and Blue Ridge became the official name in 2006. By 2007, a decade ago, Blue Ridge was fully independent.
During that time, it has experienced enormous growth. See has seen most of it. She was full-time employee No. 15 on campus.
Right now, the head count is 5,598. In 2005 it was 1,711.
That’s 227 percent growth over a little more than a decade.
The reasons for the growth are multifaceted, See said.
“Initially, it was awareness of what we had to offer. We still put a lot of emphasis on recruiting,” See said from her office on the campus.
“Our addition of programs that lead directly to workforce participation has had the greatest impact.”
Blue Ridge draws its student population from two groups. One is a degree-seeking group of about 3,000, working toward earning associates degrees. The other part includes non-degree programs filled by the remaining student population that seeks training to lead directly to work.
“They’re staying ahead of, or at least up to, the curve of what businesses are needing now,” said Hamilton, the development director in Berkeley County.
For example, among the second group would be people in training to become dealers at the casino at nearby Hollywood Casino in Charles Town.
Likewise, some programs are meant to train workers for utilities industries. Blue Ridge’s technical center even includes its own power poles for students to climb. One aspect of this field is directly associated with First Energy. “It’s almost like pre-employment,” See said.
The highest profile relationship is with Procter & Gamble. Blue Ridge was chosen to work directly with the company to train employees as construction continues on the new P&G plant at nearby Tabler Station.
“We’ll have been involved in training all 700 over the course of a few years,” See said. “We have training now that is occurring.”
Procter & Gamble benefits from a community educational partner, said Ryan Moore, human resources manager at P&G’s Tabler Station facility.
“It’s a partnership that in my understanding does not exist anywhere else currently in the United States with P&G,” Moore said. “When you think about having that multi-skilled operator, that workforce that has that ability to train in multiple skills, we’ve never partnered with a technical college before.
“Being partner with a technical college expands our horizons dramatically in not just recruiting but continuously improving our workforce.”
Moore continued, “We would not have a successful workforce that’s trained, ready to go, to start this plant up without the partnership that we have with Blue Ridge. It just would not happen.”
Because their student populations have outpaced their state funding, both Blue Ridge and Shepherd in the Eastern Panhandle took a smaller cut to their state funding than other institutions this year.
“It’s largely because we have had growth,” See said. “Other schools have lost enrollment.”
Blue Ridge and Shepherd took 2 percent cuts, while most of their peer institutions took 4.6 percent cuts. Marshall and West Virginia University took even bigger cuts, with the thinking being that the larger institutions were better able to absorb lessened state funding.
Blue Ridge received $4,980,111 in state funding for fiscal year 2017. It’s set to receive a little less — $4,880,509 — for the coming fiscal year.
See notes that Blue Ridge is 9th funded in West Virginia’s community and technical college system.
“It would take an additional $2 million more to bring us close to 8,” she said.
Blue Ridge has training at multiple locations, including right on some work sites and in high schools. One newly-renovated location will be in nearby Morgan County at the Pines Opportunity Center, where there is also an adjacent training lab for Procter & Gamble.
“We’re a small county, and access to higher education has been a challenge for us,” said Daryl Cowles, a state delegate and director of the Morgan County Development Authority. “We’re grateful to have Blue Ridge here and grateful to have the investment by Procter & Gamble in Berkeley Springs.”
The main 46-acre campus in Berkeley County includes the possibility of more growth.
The master plan calls for capacity of five buildings in addition to the current 55,000-square foot main building. The parking lot of 500 spaces is meant to provide space for a sea of student vehicles.
Now and then Blue Ridge scales back. For instance, there used to be an associates degree program in firefighting. College administrators took note that most fire stations provide their own training, so the program was dropped.
An office technology program has evolved. It used to focus on programs such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Now those who go through the program are trained to be digital media specialists.
“You need a diverse background in applications,” See said. “If we stayed stagnant, that programming would become antiquated.”