MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University’s decision to raise the student athletic fee for next year wasn’t made lightly.
That’s what WVU Director of Athletics Wren Baker said recently during a visit on the popular “3 Guys Before the Game” podcast with Tony Caridi, Brad Howe, and Hoppy Kercheval.
The Mountaineer Athletic Advantage fee will increase from $125 to $250 per semester. The fee will cost $500 per year beginning this fall.
Baker said the adjustment is part of WVU leadership’s commitment to supporting Mountaineer athletics.
“There’s some transparency in doing it,” Baker explained. “You could have just increased tuition a little more and probably done a transfer of some kind, but I think the philosophy of our board, President (Michael) Benson, our leadership team has been, ‘let’s not hide that athletics is important and we want to make an investment.'”
The WVU Board of Governors approved the financial adjustment during its meeting last month.
Tuition costs are increasing next year as well. Undergraduate in-state students will pay about 3.3 percent more than last year ($156 per semester) while the BOG approved a 5.9 percent tuition increase ($912 per semester) for out of state students. For graduate students, tuition will increase by $180 per semester for resident students and $945 per semester for non-resident students.
Baker said lots of presentations and consulting work goes into these types of decisions. He noted that not all of those discussions are athletics-driven. Baker said the university received a “fairly robust enrollment presentation” from consulting company Huron, which included a breakdown of overall costs for students.
“We are still one of the most affordable in the Big 12, one of the most affordable in the region,” Baker said. “When you look at where our students come from: Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, oftentimes we are more affordable than the in-state options that they have.”
Baker said university leadership held the belief that tuition and fees could increase, all while remaining affordable. He emphasized that there were lots of conversations held about the increase. The Mountaineer Athletic Advantage fee was the only WVU fee that changed. Baker attributed that to what the market showed was a reasonable increase.
WVU students also get free tickets for lots of athletic events, Baker noted.
“One thing that we don’t do that a lot of schools do, we do not charge our students for tickets,” Baker said. “They aren’t guaranteed to get tickets for a high-request game — it goes to a lottery on those sold-out games — but there are many, many games that they get a free ticket and we don’t charge them.”
Baker said there was debate before they reached the decision. He said the BOG has made athletic success a priority for the university, and while the athletics department continues to grow its revenues — WVU is still behind comparable schools in that category.
Baker said WVU ranks “significantly below” ACC and Big 12 schools in campus investment to athletics, even though that investment from WVU has grown over the past three years. Therefore, he said, this was a measured decision that took place after several months of discussion and studies.
Country Roads
The “Country Roads” phenomenon swept the nation with WVU baseball’s run through the NCAA tournament to Omaha and the College World Series. Videos of the post-game singing at Kendrick Family Ballpark went viral on social media, putting a spotlight on the Mountaineers and the state.
Take it all in, West Virginia 💛
For the first time ever, those country roads lead straight to Omaha‼️ pic.twitter.com/c5FkTckJ89
— ESPN (@espn) June 6, 2026
Not only that, but the USA men’s national soccer team has adopted the John Denver classic during its run in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. “Country Roads” has highlighted the Mountain State on a global stage.
‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ plays in San Francisco Bay Area Stadium after the @USMNT Knockout Stage victory 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/tBtFoqh0xC
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 2, 2026
Baker said enrollment numbers will be in a good spot thanks to that. He said more people are learning about the Mountaineer athletic tradition than ever before.
“I was telling an AD in the Big 12, he was talking about just how viral everything’s been, and how great that must be for us,” Baker said. “I was like, ‘dude, I thought everybody knew that we sang Country Roads after games,’ I didn’t know this was a new thing, we’ve been doing it for a couple decades.'”
Baker said it’s special to showcase WVU athletics and West Virginia through the “Country Roads” tradition.
“The connection that West Virginians have with the institution, the athletic department, our teams, but also the connection that our student-athletes have with being here,” Baker said. “I think it’s good for enrollment, it’s good for recruiting prospective student-athletes.”
“I also believe it will have a positive impact on people’s interest and visits to West Virginia.”