West Virginia University is still emerging from a rough patch, and new university President Michael T. Benson has some big challenges in front of him.

West Virginia has the lowest percentage of residents with a bachelor's degree or higher in the nation. And there are many West Virginians who never enter college after finishing high school.

"The interesting thing about West Virginia is that it has the highest high school graduation rate of any state in the country," Benson said in an interview last week with Gazette-Mail editors. "But then it slides down to around 44th for the college-going population in the country."

Benson said he would be "the last person to argue a four-year degree is for everyone," but that some form of continuing education after high school, whether it be a trade s

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