Steven Smith is proud of his degree from Mountain State University, but he attended a President's Forum on his wife's behalf Thursday at Carter Hall Auditorium.
"She is a third year PA student," Smith, of Mount Hope, said. "She is seven rotations away from graduation, and we don't know if she's going to be able to finish her degree or not."
Interim President Richard Sours called the meeting to provide students with an update.
Earlier this month, the Higher Learning Commission said they would be withdrawing accreditation from the private Beckley-based university.
"I mean it's painful for us to be encouraging students to transfer and making arrangements to move programs elsewhere and so forth, but if that's what's in the best interest of the students right now, that's our motivation," said Sours.
Sours held a similar meeting earlier in the week for faculty and staff.
He says layoffs are imminent.
"We're gonna have a lot fewer students," he explained, "so we're gonna need a lot fewer support staff. That's a painful process, but we have to do that."
Those in attendance Thursday said the tone of the meeting was overall sad.
"When you first went in, it was like we were attending a funeral," Smith said. "Nobody really knows exactly what's going to be happening and what's gonna go on."
At this point, Sours said they're up against a wall.
"Neither this meeting, nor the meeting two days ago with faculty and staff was in any way a good news meeting," he said.
But according to Smith, they've come a long way since he first walked the halls.
"Mountain State University truly is a different school today than what it was a year ago," continued Smith.
Now it's up to the Higher Learning Commission to decide.
Sours told 59News a lot of the questions had to do with the teach-out plan. It will be submitted next week, and must then be approved by the HLC.
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