In a special meeting Thursday, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission voted to extend the deadline for current high school seniors to apply for the Promise Scholarship until July 1, 2021.
Because of challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, applications for the merit-based scholarship were down 27 percent as of the original March 1 deadline compared to the same time last year, prompting Governor Jim Justice to call for an extended deadline.
While the Promise application and Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) are due by July 1, students have until the end of August to earn qualifying ACT or SAT test scores to be eligible to receive the scholarship this fall. With large numbers of national testing dates cancelled over the last year, Governor Justice recently announced that the state is covering the costs for one ACT On-Campus exam for Promise applicants who have not yet qualified.
The Promise Scholarship eligibility requirements, including test scores, remain the same:
ACT: 22 composite score with a minimum of 20 in English, math, science, and reading.
SAT: 1100 total score with a minimum of 520 in math, and 530 in evidence-based reading and writing.
