The West Virginia House of Representatives Finance Committee was expected to pass a bill with proposed changes to the Hope Scholarship on Friday, February 20, 2026, but it was postponed until this week while lawmakers continue to tweak the bill. (Photo by Perry Bennett/West Virginia Legislative Photography)
I was fortunate enough to be in the very first class of West Virginia Promise Scholars in 2002. At that time, the scholarship funded the full tuition of students at public colleges and universities in the state.
Because of the Promise Scholarship, I never had any student loans and I am so grateful for that. My friends who graduated the year before me weren’t so lucky.
The West Virginia Legislature passed the bill The Promise Scholarship was created in 1999 and signed into law by former Governor Cecil H. Underwood. In 2001, the scholarship was funded with money from the West Virginia Lottery, the Video Lottery and taxes on entertainment devices.
Lawmakers created the scholarship because so few West Virginians were attending college at the time. According to the bill, only 14% of those over 25 had a bachelor’s degree or higher. The meaning of the bill lay in its name – an acronym for PProviding real opportunities to maximize student excellence in the state. Lawmakers knew this was increasing A person’s level of education increases their income and improves their quality of life.
More West Virginians now have college degrees – in 2024, an average of 24.4% of our neighbors had at least a bachelor’s degree. But that’s still nowhere near the national average of 34.9%, and that could be because the Promise scholarship has fallen on strenuous times. According to this, around a third of high school students know nothing about it Opinion survey among high school students 2024-2025 from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.
Anyone who received the scholarship before January 1, 2010like me, all tuition fees for state colleges and universities were covered. As of 2010, recipients received up to $4,750 annually to cover tuition and mandatory fees, which was still pretty good considering 2010 In-state tuition at Marshall University was $5,285 and at West Virginia University was $5,406.
But since tuition has increased, so is the current in-state tuition rate at WVU $10,752 per year and Marshall’s is $9,388 – The Promise scholarship didn’t keep up. Now only $5,500 is awarded per school year.
The legislature introduced The invoice During the 2022 legislative session, the Promise Plus program was created – a second scholarship that would pay the remainder of a student’s tuition if they meet higher requirements set by the Higher Education Policy Commission. The The invoice died in the Senate Finance Committee.
The bill was reintroduced 2023 And 2024but died both times. The bill was not introduced in 2025 or the current session.
Meanwhile, the Hope Scholarship, which funds private school tuition and homeschooling materials for K-12 students, is receiving more and more state money with fewer and fewer restrictions. In the 2022-2023 school year, students received $4,600. For the current school year, they will receive $5,267.38. It will boost again next school year – to $5,435.62 – and will be open to all students in West Virginia. The total costs for next year are estimated at 230 million dollars – an boost of approximately $127 million over the current fiscal year.
By contrast, the Promise grant was allocated $47.5 million for fiscal year 2026, according to a financial aid director at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission — not quite $1 million more than it cost for the 2024-2025 school year.
I will point out that a Republican-backed bill in the House Finance Committee is trying to contain Hope costs. This would cap the voucher amount at a fixed amount of $5,250 and the money could only be used at public schools. For the first school year of the program more than $300,000 was given to schools outside of Germany.
Lawmakers have said both the Promise and Hope scholarships are intended to aid those who otherwise couldn’t afford other options — like attending college or private school. If the money that goes to the Hope Scholarship were spent on improving our public schools, students wouldn’t have to attend private schools.
And we must not forget that 32% of Promise scholars come from families with an adjusted gross income of less than $60,000 90% of Hope Scholarship Vouchers went to students who “would have taken an alternative education without Hope.”
Tuition fees at private and religious schools are higher than at universities. A friend of mine was excited when his last child graduated high school because he said WVU’s tuition was cheaper than Charleston Catholic High School’s tuition – $11,782 Catholic vs. $10,752 at WVU.
The Legislature is moving in the right direction to ensure that the Hope Scholarship is not abused.
But it’s strenuous to understand how they can build hope and then break the promise of higher education.
