A salary increase plan for West Virginia University faculty and staff will take effect Oct. 1, officials announced today (Aug. 4).

An average 3 percent increase will be provided for all employees as part of the Universitys 2010 Strategic Plan.

The salary improvement plan is possible because the University has consistently met its enrollment goals,said WVU Provost Gerald Lang.Student enrollment is driving the Universitys 2010 Strategic Plan. As long as WVU continues to enjoy success in meeting its enrollment goals and with additional financial support from the Legislature, we should be able to offer employees a salary increase annually for the foreseeable future.

Employees at the Morgantown campus including WVU Health Sciences, Potomac State College and regional campuses in Parkersburg and Montgomery are eligible for the increases.

WVU President David C. Hardesty Jr. recently communicated to the state Higher Education Policy Commission that WVU s highest budget priority is to increase faculty and staff salaries.

If the University is to retain and recruit a world class workforce, we must increase our salaries to be competitive on a regional, national and international level,Hardesty said.

WVU has provided a salary increase to its employees in all but one of the past 11 years.

The institution will apply the 3 percent salary increase pool to continued movement towards full funding of the statutory classified staff salary schedule. Salary increases for non-classified and faculty will be distributed based on merit according to institutional policy, according to Margaret Phillips, WVU vice president for human resources.