MONTGOMERY, W.Va. — The former WVU Tech campus, located in Montgomery, will soon be home to college students transitioning out of foster care.
“We’re gearing up to hopefully have students on campus in January (2018),” said Montgomery Mayor Greg Ingram.
KVC Health Systems announced a partnership Wednesday between BridgeValley Community and Technical College, the YMCA of the Kanawha Valley and the City of Montgomery.
The Kansas-based KVC plans to turn most of the former Tech campus into a specialized college for children leaving foster care. The college will provide students the opportunity to learn new skills during their transition to adulthood.
WVU Tech recently moved to Beckley. The WVU Board of Governors previously approved a 25-year lease agreement with KVC to utilize the campus. KVC will have the option to purchase the campus for $8.3 million before June 30, 2020.
Ingram said KVC plans to welcome about 50 students in its first year and then grow from there.
“This is the first college of this kind in America. It’s never been done before, so we all — including the community — we all have to grow into this new concept,” he said.
The students will live in the area and work year round. KVC plans to seek funding to pay for every students’ tuition, living expenses and for them to have a job in the community. In the early stages, KVC will pay students’ tuition through BridgeValley because KVC does not have accreditation yet.
Eunice Bellinger, president of BridgeValley, said they will be providing all the educational components of what KVC will have on campus.
“They’ll be responsible for the residential aspect of the kids’ lives, the counseling and support. We will actually be doing the education,” she said.
KVC students will be able to enroll in the same programs offered at BridgeValley, Bellinger said.
“We have general education, programs in dental hygiene, we have business programs, pre-engineering, many different programs they can choose from,” she said.
KVC plans to lease the athletic center to the YMCA.
Ingram said having KVC in Montgomery will create an economic boost for the region.
“We’ve kind of been neglected over the years. The coal industry left and there was some depression,” he said. “But I think we’re slowly starting to pull out of that.”