West Virginia University students, including those on the WVU Potomac State campus, will be able to more easily focus on transitioning to online courses during the COVID-19 outbreak instead of being troubled about maintaining their scholarship eligibility during the end of the spring semester, as the University system has taken steps to continue making higher education affordable.
WVU, including the Potomac State College campus, will reduce the minimum grade point average to 2.75 for all merit-based scholarships, making it easier for students, parents, faculty and staff to know the renewal requirements. However, students will still need to earn 30 hours per academic year.
WVU Potomac State College scholarships affected by the change, include:
· Scholarship of Distinction
· International Scholarship
· Transfer Scholarship
The goal of the change is to ease students’ stress during this unprecedented and stressful time.
The Council for Community and Technical College Education made changes that allow students receiving the West Virginia Invests Grant, the state’s new last-dollar-in grant program for students pursuing associate degrees. They voted to suspend the community service requirement for spring 2020 awards and GPA requirements to renew for the 2020-21 academic year.
The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission on Friday changed requirements for state scholarships also, suspending the GPA requirements for the PROMISE Scholarship, Higher Education Grant, and Engineering, Science & Technology Scholarship from 2019-20 to 2020-21. The commission extended the application deadline for the Higher Education Grant, the state’s need-based financial aid program, from April 15 to May 15.
The commission is encouraging high school seniors who are PROMISE Scholarship applicants to take the June SAT and June and July ACT. If those tests are postponed or canceled, the commission will reevaluate their statewide qualification deadlines.