Source: http://wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb4037%20intr.htm&yr=2018&sesstype=RS&i=4037
Timestamp: 2020-01-23 10:42:38
Document Index: 249972072

Matched Legal Cases: ['§18', '§18', '§18', '§18', '§18', '§18', '§18', '§18', '§18', '§18', '§18', '§18', '§18', '§12', '§18', '§18', '§18', '§18', '§18', '§18', '§18']

By Delegates Sponaugle, Miley, Caputo, Boggs, Lovejoy, Fluharty, Barrett, Iaquinta, Robinson, Fleischauer and Pushkin
to the Committee on Education then Finance]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18C-7-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, and to amend said code by adding thereto a new article, designated §18C-8-1, §18C-8-2, §18C-8-3, §18C-8-4, §18C-8-5 and §18C-8-6, all relating to expiring the PROMISE Scholarship Program; establishing the Promise for All Scholarship Program; providing legislative findings and purpose of the new program; defining terms; providing eligibility, conditions and limitations for participating in the program; directing the Higher Education Policy Commission administer the program; providing commission directives and authority to administer; providing for loss of scholarship if certain conditions are not fulfilled; placing limitations and conditions on scholarship awards; providing for legislative and emergency rules; establishing a new fund to hold and invest scholarship moneys; and providing for funding of program.
§18C-7-1. Title; and repeal.
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "West Virginia providing real opportunities for maximizing in-state student excellence (PROMISE) Scholarship Program". Except as provided in §18C-8-1 et seq. of this code, the provisions of this article expire and are no longer in force or effect beginning January 1, 2019.
Article 8. West virginia educate, Employ and Retain Scholarship Program.
§18C-8-1. Legislative findings and purpose.
(1) West Virginia must have an educated work force in order to retain and attract high wage, high skill jobs;
(b) It is the purpose of this article to redirect existing PROMISE scholarship funding to the Promise for All Scholarship established pursuant to this article. These scholarships will be available to all residents who enroll in a state institution and maintain a 2.0 grade-point average during their collegiate career. The scholarships may not exceed $10,000 each scholastic year and shall provide for no longer than four years for an undergraduate degree and two years for an associate degree, and will be annually proportionally released from repayment for each year the resident remains and works in West Virginia following graduation.
§18C-8-2. Definitions.
(b) Definitions – (1) "Enrolled" means either currently enrolled or in the process of enrolling in an eligible institution.
(4) "Tuition" means the quarter, semester or term charges imposed by an eligible state institution of higher education and, additionally, all mandatory fees required as a condition of enrollment by all students. For the purposes of this article, the following conditions apply:
§18C-8-3. Powers and duties of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission regarding the West Virginia Educate, Employ and Retain Scholarship Program.
(2) To invest any of the funds of the Promise for All Scholarship Fund established pursuant to §18C-8-6 of this code with the West Virginia Investment Management Board in accordance with the provisions of §12-6-1 et seq. of this code. Any investments made pursuant to this article shall be made with the care, skill, prudence and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent person acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in conducting an enterprise of a like character and with like aims. Fiduciaries shall diversify plan investments to the extent permitted by law to minimize the risk of large losses, unless under the circumstances it is clearly prudent not to do so;
(7) To define the terms and conditions under which scholarships are awarded with the minimum requirements being set forth in §18C-8-6 of this code; and
(vi) Any other relevant information the commission reasonably requests to implement the provisions of this subdivision.
§18C-8-4. Promise for All program requirements.
(A) Within two years of graduating from high school or within two years of acquiring a general equivalency degree if provided instruction in the home or other approved place pursuant to §18-8-1(c) of this code; or
(A) The institution at which the student is enrolled loses its status as an eligible institution as defined in §18C-8-2 of this code; and
(d) Upon the withdrawal of the student from an eligible institution before completing program requirements and failure to timely enroll in another eligible institution, or upon graduation, failure to remain in the state or gain full time employment within a reasonable period of time as established by the commission, the recipient shall be required to repay the state the amount of the scholarship, and the scholarship shall be treated as, and administered pursuant to the Guaranteed Student Loan Program, as established in §18C-2-1 et seq. of this code.
(e) It is the intent of the Legislature that the commission shall strongly encourage prospective candidates for the Promise for All award to perform at least twenty hours of unpaid community service while in high school to help prepare them for success in post-secondary education. The community service may include, but is not limited to, participation with nonprofit, governmental or community-based organizations designed with any or all of the following purposes:
§18C-8-5. Legislative rules.
§18C-8-6. Promise for All Award Fund created.
(c) The commission may expend the moneys in the fund to implement the provisions of this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create a new scholarship available to all West Virginians upon graduation from high school that remain in West Virginia to pursue an associate or bachelor’s degree of $10,000 per year. The only academic requirement is that the person have a 2.0 GPA, and graduate in no more than four years for an undergraduate degree or two and a half years for an associate degree; if the recipient after graduation stays and has full-time employment in West Virginia, repayment is forgiven on a year to year basis; if the person does not graduate or leaves the state after graduation, or fails to get a full-time job, the scholarships are converted to student loans and must be repaid.