ACF Position on PROMISE
HB4049, etal

This position paper concerns the status of PROMISE as HB4049 has evolved. Specifically, higher education faculty wish to address the issue of the 7.5% cap on tuition currently in the bill and the issue of full-funding for the awards to students without stipulations that might accompany them.

We request that Legislators not readjust the current 9.5% cap, thus hampering our higher education institutions’ ability to deliver the kind of quality educational experience that PROMISE scholars need and deserve. We further request that the Legislature fully fund the PROMISE award with no conditions placed upon students, other than those scholarly impositions and requirements that accompany the award.

PROMISE is without question one of the most significant and important educational initiatives of the past decade. It is clear from the 2005 Higher Education Report Card that PROMISE is making a difference in a number of crucial respects: the increased numbers of WV high school graduates attending college, up from 49.3% in 1997 to 60.6% in 2004; and the increase in ACT composite scores, up from 20.3 in 2001 to 21.1 in 2005. There is clearly a PROMISE benefit that the Report Card reflects and an indication of the extraordinary success of this program, which will positively affect economic development in the State more than any other single factor. Our thanks to you for your support of this important educational program.