PROMISE Scholarship Award
Information
Coordination with Other Financial Aid
PROMISE Scholarship awards shall be coordinated with other
financial aid/grant programs in the following manner:
- PROMISE awards must be utilized in a manner that maximizes
federal scholarship/grant funding (e.g. Pell Grant) and should not
be administered in a manner that would result in the loss of
federal grant/scholarship funds to a student or to the State of
West Virginia.
- PROMISE Scholarship awards must be used to cover the cost of
tuition and mandatory fees.
- Institutions are strongly encouraged to allow maximum
flexibility in the use of institution-based financial aid awards so
that they can be used in conjunction with the PROMISE
Scholarship.
The amount of a PROMISE Scholarship award in combination with
aid from all other sources shall not exceed the cost of attendance
at the institution the recipient is attending.
For those students eligible for federal grant assistance, such
as federal Pell Grants, the federal assistance should be considered
the first source of all scholarship/grant funding to the extent
permissible under federal law. For students awarded both a PROMISE
Scholarship and a need-based grant through the West Virginia Higher
Education Grant Program, the PROMISE Scholarship awards shall be
considered the first source for these two programs. West Virginia
Higher Education Grants may be combined with PROMISE awards as
provided for annually by program policies.
Should the PROMISE Scholarship award plus the amount of other
financial awards exceed the cost of attendance, the institution's
financial aid administrator, in consultation with the recipient,
will determine what aid is to be reduced. This adjustment should be
made in the best interest of the recipient.
Additional Award Information
Eligible 2011 high school graduates will receive annual awards
valued at the lesser of tuition and mandatory fees OR $4,750 at the
West Virginia public or private higher education institution they
choose to attend. The amount of a PROMISE Scholarship awarded in
combination with aid from all other sources shall not exceed the
cost of the education at the institution the recipient is
attending.
"Tuition and mandatory fees" is defined as the quarter, semester
or term charges imposed by an in-state institution of higher
educational upon all students as a required condition of
enrollment. For purposes of this rule, West Virginia University's
undergraduate health sciences students shall be treated as paying
the same amount of tuition and mandatory fees as all other West
Virginia University undergraduate students.
Only full-time, first-year students may receive initial awards.
Students already enrolled at an institution of higher education are
not eligible to apply for a PROMISE Scholarship award, except as
outlined in Section 2.1.7.1 in the PROMISE legislation 
.
College courses completed prior to the first semester of regular
enrollment (first semester - fall or spring - of college following
graduation from high school) will not exclude a student from
receiving an initial award.