Promise Scholarship
*West Virginia PROMISE (Providing Real Opportunities for Maximizing In-state Student Excellence) is a merit-based scholarship program designed to keep qualified students in West Virginia by making college affordable.
*The PROMISE website has been updated for the class of 2008. Please note, a 2008 student must have 4 social studies classes (previously 3) in order to be eligible for the PROMISE Scholarship.
http://www.promisescholarships.org/promise/home.aspx
PROMISE Scholarship Program
1018 Kanawha Blvd E Ste 700
Charleston WV 25301-2800
voice 304.558.4417
toll-free 1.877.WVPROMISE
2006-2007 Figures:
- About 10,000 students are currently benefiting from the PROMISE Scholarship
- Roughly 3,000 incoming college freshmen received PROMISE in 2006.
Why is the PROMISE Scholarship so critical?
- While West Virginia has 74% of its students graduate from high school, only 59% of the graduating seniors go to college.
- According to the United States Census Bureau, only 14.8% of West Virginia residents over the age of 25 have a bachelor's degree - compared to 24.4% in the United States as a whole.
- Several other states have found that the quickest and most effective way to motivate students to study harder and to achieve in school is to offer good students the opportunity to attend college with a reduced tuition rate.
- Too many West Virginians do not think college is affordable.
- By putting forth a reward for achievement, we're saying to students that working hard, playing by the rules, and meeting tough expectations will earn them the opportunity to attend college. That's a lesson that should ring throughout our educational system.
- Getting more students into college is the best thing we can do to turn around the economies of our communities, to attract energetic people to the state, and to keep our best students in West Virginia.
- Middle-income students often do not qualify for need-based aid. Often they borrow large sums to attend college. The average loan burden carried by our college graduates in West Virginia has increased by more than 50% since 1994.
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Administration