Potomac State College of West Virginia University is the state's only residential junior college. It is located in Keyser, West Virginia about 90 miles from the main campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia.
The school was founded in 1901 as the sub-colegate Keyser Preparatory Branch of WVU. It was soon renamed as the West Virginia Preparatory School. Eventually it evolved into a full junior college, taking students from the local area and also students from elsewhere in the state who did not meet the full admission requirements for the main campus, under its current name. Eventually the school evolved out of its remedial role. Classes at the school dovetail exactly with classes taught on the main campus and students may transfer after any semester to the main campus with no loss of student status.
Under a reform bill passed in 2003 the school will be re-purposed as a "fully intergrated junior college campus" of WVU by the fall semester of 2005.
The school is often called "Pot State", much to the irritation of the administration.
In athletics the school's teams are called the Catamounts and compete against junior college and community college teams.