Teachers grumble over pay everywhere, but in West Virginia Wesleyan College the anger is a

cute. Salaries here have barely moved since 2000, and the average assistant professor's pay has fallen below that at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College. On a campus with just 86 full-time faculty, a sociology professor said, a few hundred thousand dollars more spent on teaching could make a real difference.

Wesleyan President William Haden says the college plans to raise faculty pay. But he says Wesleyan is nothing without students—"they vote with their feet"—and the college has no choice but to address their wants and needs. He says technology has been a big part of that, and some recent graduates agree that it's valuable—though maybe not essential. Daniel Simmons, a 1999 graduate and also a middle-school teacher, praised the technology program. "If I had gone to another school it wouldn't have been available to me," he said. "It was very convenient and it was top of the line."

But as with the faculty, the quality of human instructors is a big concern among Wesleyan alumni. "A little bit more money should have been put into keeping people," said Evan Keeling, a 2002 graduate now pursuing a doctorate at the University of Virginia. He found the quality in the classroom uneven, and, notably, neither he nor the Daniel Simmons came to Wesleyan because of technology. The program was a bonus, not the primary draw. Skinner, the director of admission and financial planning, acknowledged that seems widely true. Prospective students pay more attention to more tangible signs of growth. "It did open some doors for us, but would I have liked to have had a new residence hall or recreational facility？ I probably would have preferred that," Skinner said. His daily struggle remains filling the freshman class, which may be down 50 people or more this year, due to changes in government financial aid programs and the shuttering of the nursing program. The college still accepts about 80 percent of its applicants, and no longer requires online applications.

Haden acknowledges that, with the benefit of hindsight, he might have handled details of how the program was financed differently. But he makes no apologies for taking bold steps which he says have indeed set Wesleyan apart. "We needed to make a statement about our commitment to technology and our belief that it would enhance the quality of education and the preparation of our students," he said.' "And I'm still believing that."

Faculties in Wesleyan have lower salaries mainly because the college

A．invests too much in the technology program.

B．spends a great deal in achieving tangible growth.

C．fails to attract enough students to fill its classrooms.

D．cannot get enough government financial aid.