CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore announced Tuesday afternoon that more than 3,000 students across the Mountain State have been awarded the Hope Scholarship education savings account for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year.
“Now that the application period has closed for the upcoming school year, I’m excited to announce that we’ve now awarded the Hope Scholarship to more than 3,000 West Virginia students,” Treasurer Moore stated. “This milestone demonstrates the strong public response we’ve seen with this program. It shows West Virginians are certainly interested in school choice options for their children.”
The office had awarded 3,010 applicants the Hope Scholarship as of Friday, May 27. There have also been 469 applications submitted that are either currently in the review process, awaiting review, or on hold pending more information. In addition, there have been 175 applications which have been determined not to have met the eligibility criteria for the program.
The State Treasurer serves as chairman of the Hope Scholarship Board, and the Treasurer’s Office helps administer the program, which was established by the Legislature last year through the passage of House Bill 2013.
Treasurer Moore stated that his office began working vigilantly to implement this program immediately following the Legislature’s passing of the Hope Scholarship Act in 2021 to ensure a successful program launch.
“I’m proud of the tremendous efforts on the part of our Office to successfully launch this program while meeting the strong public demand,” Treasurer Moore said. “The fact we were able to launch this program so seamlessly is a testament to the hard work and devotion of our fine public servants.”
The Hope Scholarship Program is an education savings account available for kindergarten through 12th grade students, and is designed to allow parents and families to use the state portion of their child’s education funding to tailor an individualized learning experience that works best for their child.
The scholarship amount varies each school year; for the 2022-23 year, it will be $4,298.60.
To qualify for the Hope Scholarship, a student must be a West Virginia resident and be either:
Eligible to be enrolled in a kindergarten program.
Enrolled full-time in a public elementary or secondary school program in this state for the entire instructional term during the 2021-2022 current academic year immediately preceding the academic year for which the student is applying to participate in the Hope Scholarship Program.
Or, enrolled full-time and attending a public elementary or secondary school program in this state for at least 45 calendar days during an instructional term at the time of application.
The first distribution of Hope Scholarship funds for approved applicants will be available for qualified expenses through the program’s online portal by August 15.
More information can be found here at the Hope Scholarship website.
