West Virginia University students will be able to more easily focus on transitioning to online courses during the COVID-19 outbreak instead of being troubled about maintaining their scholarship eligibility during the end of the spring semester, as the University has taken steps to continue making higher education affordable.

WVU will reduce the minimum grade point average to 2.75 for all merit-based scholarships, making it easier for students, parents, faculty and staff to know the requirements. However, students will still need to earn 30 hours per academic year.

“Clear and transparent requirements will help students and their families to plan better financially to meet their costs,” said Sandra Oerly-Bennett, assistant vice president, Student Financial Support. “This change will also allow more students to retain their scholarships over their four years of study.”

WVU scholarships affected by the change:

·       Scholarship of Distinction

·       Distinguished Achievement Scholarship

·       Bucklew Scholarship

·       Foundation Scholarship

·       University Merit Scholarship

·       International Scholarship

·       Transfer Scholarship

·       B&E Dean’s Scholarship

·       Reed College of Media Dean’s Scholarship

·       Davis Dean’s Scholarship

·       Engineering Excellence Scholarship

·       Academic Excellence

·       Blue and Gold

·       Presidential

·       Mountaineer

·       Vandalia

Oerly-Bennett said the move would ease students’ stress during this unprecedented and stressful time.

The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission on Friday changed requirements for state scholarships also, suspending the GPA requirements for the PROMISE Scholarship, Higher Education Grant, Underwood-Smith Teacher Scholarship and Engineering, Science & Technology Scholarship from 2019-20 to 2020-21. The commission extended the application deadline for the Higher Education Grant, the state’s need-based financial aid program, from April 15 to May 15.

The Council for Community and Technical College Education made changes that allow last-dollar-in grant program for students pursuing associate degrees, voting to suspend the community service requirement for spring 2020 awards and GPA requirements to renew for the 2020-21 academic year.