West Virginia Hope,
built into the dashboard.

How the Hope Scholarship works

The Hope Scholarship is West Virginia's education savings account program: families receive a per-student account they can direct toward tuition at participating schools, tutoring, curriculum, and other approved expense categories. The award equals the prior year's statewide average per-pupil funding: $5,267.38 for 2025-26, with the 2026-27 award expected at $5,435.62 per the program's parent handbook.

Two changes land in 2026-27: eligibility opens to all West Virginia school-age students, and 2026 legislation moved deposits from a twice-a-year schedule to quarterly (August 15, October 15, January 15, April 15). Both make the program materially bigger and more cash-flow-predictable for a school.

The program is governed by the Hope Scholarship Board with the West Virginia State Treasurer's Office performing administrative functions. Platform operations run on Student First Technologies, the program manager since 2024; families manage their accounts and direct payments there, and providers receive disbursements there.

Becoming a Hope education service provider

Microschools register as education service providers through the Hope Scholarship's provider process on the Student First platform. Expect to provide West Virginia business registration (or a foreign-entity authorization), a W-9 matching the legal name, your tuition and fee schedule, and background check coverage for staff working with students. Confirm category-specific requirements with the program; CohortLedger marks unconfirmed items as such.

CohortLedger's West Virginia vendor wizard carries these steps with per-step document tracking and renewal reminders.

Reporting cadence and operator obligations

Operators keep enrollment, attendance, and tuition records per scholarship student and submit periodic documentation through the program's channels. The compliance calendar ships with a quarterly attendance and progress task plus the annual provider renewal, recurring automatically with reminders before each due date.

What CohortLedger does for West Virginia operators

Per-student award tracking, quarterly invoices split into scholarship and family-paid portions, Student First deposit reconciliation against your bank account, and a one-click audit packet with dated attendance and compliance entries. The West Virginia checklist loads the moment you pick WV at signup.