The school was located on a steep four-acre (0.016 km2) site to the north side of the Norfolk & Western railroad tracks.

Campus growth followed enrollment gains, expanding to 23 acres and the addition of Payne and Conley Halls.

"[citation needed] The President's House, later renamed Hatter Hall, was built in 1930 and added to the National Register of Historic Places.

A $5,000 reward was offered by Governor Hulett C. Smith, and college president Wendell Hardway responded by closing all dormitories immediately and permanently.

In 2003, the West Virginia Legislature created a community college system offering two-year degrees at new institutions across the state.

[12] The succeeding years were of slow decline, with occasional calls from state legislators to merge the college with nearby Concord University.

[13] Later that year, Capehart and Governor Jim Justice announced the return to a residential campus with the groundbreaking for the first residence hall since the 1960s.

[14][15] Former patient rooms were converted to residences; a cafeteria and lounge areas were built in time for the 2021–22 school year.

[19] The HLC peer review team also recommended that the commission require the university to provide additional information to justify their accreditation.

[22] Bluefield State belongs to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II level, primarily competing in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) since the 2023–24 academic year; its men's wrestling team is an affiliate of Conference Carolinas.

In 1955, the college joined the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) and remained there until its dissolution in 2013.

In 1927 and 1928, football teams (then the "Blue Devils") won Negro College Athletic Association national championships as announced by the Pittsburgh Courier.

In 2023, the Big Blue competed in the CIAA for the first time in 70 years against other historically black colleges and universities.

[24] Men and women's basketball teams competed in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) from 1955 until its dissolution in 2013.