CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Applications for the PROMISE Scholarship for Fall 2021 – Spring 2022 were down by 37 percent compared with the same time period last year heading into the last weekend before the March 1 filing deadline.
Also due Monday were FAFSAs, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, that were requirements as well for the PROMISE, the merit-based financial aid program for West Virginia residents.
“We need everybody to buckle down and fill out their FAFSA over the course of the next couple of days, this weekend, and fill out their PROMISE application,” said Dr. Sarah Armstrong Tucker, chancellor for the Higher Education Policy Commission.
Assistance was available through the HEPC’s Financial Aid Hotline at 877-987-7664.
With the PROMISE, eligible high school graduates can receive annual awards of up to $4,750 to cover costs of tuition and mandatory fees at public or independent institutions in West Virginia depending on funding as determined by the Legislature.
The PROMISE is for up to four years of undergraduate study or completion of a bachelor’s degree, whichever comes first.
Though the application deadline was March 1, students had until this summer to take ACTs or SATs to qualify for the PROMISE funding. No scores for either test were going to be accepted after August 2021.
Tucker said signs of lagging first-time applications started last fall.
Since then, there has been a push to encourage applicants.
“We’re exhausting all avenues. We’ve even made TikTok videos which is new to me and new to the commission,” Tucker told MetroNews.
Having many students back in schools has helped, she said.
“Counselors can answer questions that they have and help walk them through the process as well and, also, it’s just someone that’s there saying to them, ‘This is important. You need to pay attention to do this and do this right now.'”
Back in mid-January, HEPC was reporting 3,862 PROMISE initial applications received compared with 8,289 at the same time last year.
While some ground had been made up since then, “We have a big hill to climb, but I’m confident that we will get even closer (to typical application numbers). We won’t get as close as I’d like, but we’re going to get a lot closer,” Dr. Tucker said.