West Virginia’s scholarship program ‘knocking the socks off’ other states

[davidinalameda]

http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/200508081

The Promise scholarship has had its share of critics, but the merit-based program is “knocking the socks off” similar grants in other states, West Virginia Higher Education Chancellor Michael Mullen told legislators Sunday.

Citing reports that only 20 percent of Georgia’s HOPE scholarship recipients manage to retain the scholarships through their senior year in college, Mullen said 60 percent to 65 percent of the first class of Promise scholars will retain their scholarships this fall, their senior year.

Mullen said the difference is that the only requirement to obtain a HOPE scholarship — the original model for Promise — is to graduate from a Georgia high school with a 3.0 grade point average.