Considering the move to beautiful West Virginia?
Thinking about bringing your educational services to the state of West Virginia? You’re eyeing a land ripe with opportunities, not just for your business, but for enriching lives through innovative education. West Virginia’s welcoming arms are open for out-of-state Education Service Providers (ESPs) like you!
Why West Virginia?
West Virginia isn’t just a great place to live; it’s a welcoming home for businesses, especially for ESPs. Our appetite for innovative educational solutions among families here is growing year over year — become a part of supplying new opportunities to West Virginia families!
So really, what are you waiting for?
You should take a shot at expanding to West Virginia. If you’re going to translate your business to West Virginia, you’ll need to navigate what the State of West Virginia requires of businesses like yours and what makes the ESP market in West Virginia unique.
Here’s what you need to know:
- To receive payments from an ESA digital wallet you must register your business with Step Up For Students, the current processing vendor for the ESA program. Note: you can choose to forgo this step and parents can get reimbursed for qualifying expenses, too.
Though not all of your clients will be ESA recipients, many will be. You can register here as a provider or here as a school to start receiving Hope Scholarship payments through MyScholarShop if you decide you want to be an authorized education service provider on the platform. Once you register, your form and (as applicable) credentials will be given to West Virginia’s ESA program manager, Step Up For Students, for review. They’ll send you an email with instructions. - ESA funds are deposited twice a year into a parent’s scholarship account.
The Hope Scholarship is deposited into parents’ accounts in halves — first by August 15 and the second half by January 15. For families who join the program mid-year or are receiving a prorated scholarship, funds are deposited on a monthly or semi-monthly basis, based on when the student joined the program. - Parents can apply for the Hope Scholarship any time throughout the year. To receive the full Hope Scholarship amount, you will need to apply between March 1st and June 15th each year.
As your clients depend on ESA funds to purchase your service, your business depends on your clients successfully renewing their application each year. Sending marketing materials to the families your business serves, reminding them to renew keeps your client base financially secured. - West Virginia has limits on where ESA funds can be spent.
West Virginia’s ESA funds can be spent on many of the things you would expect: K12 tuition and school fees, textbooks, tutoring, standardized testing and prep, individual classes, extracurricular programs at public schools, transportation, computer hardware (primarily used for an educational purpose), curricula, and supplemental materials (which encompasses a lot of educational supplies needed for curriculum). West Virginia published a list of allowable expenses and non-qualifying expenses for ESA students. The list is not exhaustive, and many families purchase items not on this list with approval from the West Virginia Hope Scholarship Board. To be sure if your service or product falls into one of these categories, ask the Hope Scholarship staff at the West Virginia State Treasurer’s Office.
Before committing to launching your business in West Virginia, make sure your business is eligible to receive ESA funds or can succeed without ESA funds. Please connect with us if you have questions or are unsure about whether you can qualify for ESA approved expenses. We’d love to help! - Like every state, West Virginia has our own licensing and business requirements for businesses.
West Virginia’s Secretary of State manages licenses for out-of-state businesses. We recommend that you consult with a legal expert to ensure you’re following West Virginia law.
Have you run into frustrations expanding your ESP into West Virginia? We’re sorry to hear that but we can help!!! Send us a message or set up a 30 minute free consultation with one of our West Virginia ESP experts and we’ll help you sort through the problem. We want you in West Virginia, and we’re here to provide the answers and guidance you need to launch in our state.