FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Fairmont State University President Mike Davis is on the final leg of his 2025 “Tour of West Virginia,” which continues through August 1. The tour fulfills a commitment Davis made in 2023 to visit all 55 counties in the Mountain State—a promise he will have kept by the end of this trip.
Appearing on WAJR’s Talk of the Town, Davis said this leg of the tour includes visits to Wood, Lincoln, Mingo, McDowell, Wyoming, Pocahontas, Ritchie, and Pleasants counties.
Davis emphasized that the tour isn’t just about promoting Fairmont State University—it’s about listening.
“Finding ways to make sure I’m seeing what going on around the state so while we’re crafting curriculum, messages to students, or partnerships that I understand what’s great about these different localities,” Davis said.
In 2019, statistics show that 97 percent of Fairmont State University’s 3,800 students came from all 55 counties of West Virginia. That same year, nearly 800 of them were first-time college freshmen.
“We serve every county in the state and you hear that,” Davis said. “Every person I’ve talked to knows someone who’s going or has gone to Fairmont State University and that says a lot about what we’re doing to serve the state.”
Unlike many other higher education institutions, Fairmont State University is experiencing an increase in enrollment, creating a growing need for additional space. Programs such as aviation and nursing have become so competitive that some qualified students are being turned away. President Mike Davis credited initiatives like the Access Scholarship—which offers tuition-free degrees to students from families earning less than $70,000 annually—for helping drive enrollment. The university has also taken steps to improve affordability by freezing in-state tuition and introducing a new, lower unified rate for out-of-state students.
“Right now we’re trending up about eight percent,” Dais said. “We’ll see how that ends up, but we know we’re going to be up in the fall and we’re just getting started.”
Program changes at FSU are often driven by input from the business community, leading to the expansion of co-ops, internships, and apprenticeships that benefit both students and the state economy.
” We hear from the business community that they want students that ready for work on day one,” Davis said. “So, we’re leaning heavy into things like internships and apprenticeships and making sure students have all the experience they nee before they leave the campus.”
Davis said that while they look to business and industry to shape classroom content, their approach to affordability is guided by market trends. He emphasized that the university is focused on developing the talent and expertise needed to drive the next generation of economic growth in the state.
“We want to make sure students leave Fairmont State University with as little debt as possible,” Davis said. ” They should invest in their future, but they should invest the amount that makes sense fir the student and their family.”