West Virginia’s Promise scholars will earn more money for college next year; deadline to apply is May 1

CHARLESTON, WV – In a special meeting today, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission voted to extend the deadline for current high school seniors to apply for the Promise Scholarship until May 1, 2023. The Commission also approved increasing the award amount for the 2023-24 academic year to $5,200, up from the previous amount of $5,000 annually.

“Our high school seniors have been working so hard to stay on track for their futures, and we want to give them every opportunity to access the support they need to continue their education after they graduate,” said Dr. Sarah Armstrong Tucker, West Virginia’s Chancellor of Higher Education. “With this extended deadline and increased award amount, we hope students and their families have greater peace of mind as they plan for college this fall.”

The Promise Scholarship eligibility requirements, including test scores, remain the same for the class of 2023:

• ACT: 21 composite score with a minimum of 19 in English, math, science, and reading.
• SAT: 1080 total score with a minimum of 510 in math, evidence-based reading, and writing.

While the Promise application and Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) are due by May 1, current seniors have until June 2023 to earn qualifying SAT scores and July 2023 to earn qualifying ACT scores to be eligible to receive Promise this fall. Students also are able to use “superscoring” to meet the eligibility requirements, meaning that they can take sub-scores from different tests they’ve taken to get an overall score that is higher than an individual test score.

The Promise Scholarship application and requirements are available at collegeforwv.com/promise. The FAFSA is free and available through the U.S. Department of Education at fafsa.gov.

For assistance with applications, students and families are encouraged to call the state’s financial aid hotline at 877-987-7664. Students are also encouraged to sign up for West Virginia’s text-message college counseling program, “Txt 4 Success,” by visiting http://www.cfwvconnect.com/txt-4-success/.