Lawmakers from both houses passed SB1 toward the end of a recent meeting, creating the West Virginia Invests Grant Program. The new program would cover the remaining tuition and fees left after other grants and scholarships have been used.
Mitch Carmichael
Student loans are not required to be used in order to be eligible for the program.
The legislation was first introduced by Senate president Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson during the 2018 session that was approved in the Senate, but wasn’t considered in a House committee meeting, according to the WV State Journal.
“This bill pays for itself 10 times over with the advent of last-dollar-in, so it’s kind of been messaged a little differently,” said Carmichael. “It’s a very minimal investment for the state of West Virginia and removes financial barrier. It gets our workforce trained and provides a good job path for these folks.”
“This bill provides two major opportunities,” said WV Council for Community & Technical College Education chancellor Dr. Sarah Tucker. “The first is to increase and improve in-demand pathways from K-12 into higher education. The second is to give our residents who otherwise did not have the financial means to go to college the ability to attend and better themselves and their careers.”
