There has been talk in Atlanta about the possibility of raising the minimum qualifying GPA for the HOPE Scholarship, but Gov. Nathan Deal has said he supports keeping the current standard.
In his first State of the State address last week, Deal said his budget requires that HOPE Scholarship outlays for fiscal 2012 be funded within the constraints of lottery revenues and that funds for college scholarship programs, including HOPE, would be cut $279 million next year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
He reiterated on Tuesday that the HOPE Scholarship and pre-K programs already have to, and will continue to, dip into reserves.
“I look forward to working with you on a solution for HOPE,” Deal told lawmakers Tuesday.
At the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education’s annual symposium Friday in Atlanta, state Sen. Fran Millar, R-Atlanta, who is the chairman of the Education and Youth Committee, said Deal’s message “was a polite way of saying we are going to pass something” this year.
“I went to the former governor (Sonny Perdue) four years about adding an SAT/ACT component,” Millar said, referring to tying scores on the college entrance exams to qualifications for the scholarship, “and nothing was done.
“One of my major disappointments is that until there’s a crisis, we don’t seem to deal with it.”
State Rep. Margaret Kaiser, D-Atlanta, said she was curious why she hasn’t heard from anyone calling for the HOPE formula to be changed “where the families who are able to afford a little more pay a little more, and those who can’t are given more.”
Millar said he would be surprised if any legislation that comes out this year concerning HOPE includes “means testing” because there is strong sentiment for keeping the scholarship merit-based.
“I could see a dollar allotment, where you get X amount of money your freshman year, and maybe it’s still a flat amount even if colleges raise their tuition,” he said. “I think you’re going to have a hard time doing means testing in a Republican General Assembly.”
Just my thoughts, but why fund a pre-k program. In my opinion it's just a HOPE funded babysitter. The money is better used putting computers in class rooms from elementary to high school, helping those that are serious about a college education and by that I mean making the necessary grades, etc.
Consistently about half of the incoming college freshman who qualified for HOPE will lose eligibility after their first year of college due to poor grades.
Grade inflation at the high school level has made the 3.0 qualifier meaningless in predicting college success. They should raise the minimum to a 3.5, but provide a secondary qualifying option of using SAT/ACT scores.
Is the Lottery Corp sending the full percentage on to HOPE that they are required to by law? Originally that was to be around the 33-35% mark though I believe they send 25-27% each year. It will be fine to mandate changes that place more burden on a student and family regarding funding and grades, but this should only happen if Lottery Corp is also required to fulfill their obligations.
Why not pay more for a higher grade and less for a lower grade? I do this with my kids all the time. Gives em an incentive to do better.
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