CHARLESTON (AP) – The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission voted Monday to seek an extra $8 million a year to help students pay for college.

The request is part of a broader financing plan that includes funding for deferred maintenance at universities and junior colleges among other things. Most of the money – $6 million a year for two years – would go to the state’s Higher Education Grant Program. The remaining $2 million a year would go toward a grant program that helps part-time graduate students.

The added $6 million a year is aimed at bringing the commission’s grant program in line with the state’s PROMISE Scholarship Program. The merit-based PROMISE program pays tuition for