There is a move in the Tennessee Legislature to tighten the requirements for the Tennessee Hope Scholarship for 2012. Currently, the eligibility requirements require a GPA of 3.0 or an ACT score of 21 or higher. The proposed changed would change the “or” to an “and” which is a major difference in the standard. This means that a student must have a GPA of 3.0 and an ACT of 21 or higher. There are many cases where GPA score may not give the full picture of ability especially with students having certain special needs. Likewise, the ACT is a 1 day snap shot. What happens if the student just has a bad day on the test by being sick, apprehensive, etc…
Here is a complete reading on HB 0014 introduced by Rep Harry Brooks and Sen Dolores Gresham:
Lottery, Scholarships and Programs – As introduced, changes high school academic eligibility requirements for initial receipt of the HOPE scholarship. – Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 4, Part 9.
Fiscal Summary
Decrease State Expenditures – $41,336.300/FY12-13/Lottery for Education Account $57,651,100/FY13-14 and Subsequent Years/ Lottery for Education Account
Bill Summary
This bill changes the academic eligibility requirements for initial receipt of the Tennessee Hope scholarship.
Under present law, in order to be eligible for a Tennessee HOPE scholarship as an entering freshman, a student meet the academic requirement to obtain the scholarship, the student must:
(1) Have graduated from an eligible high school and:
(A) Achieve a final overall weighted high school grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0; or
(B) Attain an ACT score of at least 21 or an SAT score of at least 980;
(2) Attain an ACT score of at least 21 or an SAT score of at least 980, if the student completed high school in a Tennessee home school program or graduated from a high school located in Tennessee that is not an eligible high school;
(3) Pass the GED tests with an average score of at least 525 and attain an ACT score of at least 21 or an SAT score of at least 980, if the student obtained a GED; or
(4) Attain an ACT score of at least 21 or an SAT score of at least 980, if the student graduated from a high school located in a neighboring state in a county contiguous to this state and has been a Tennessee resident for one year immediately preceding graduation from high school and remains a Tennessee resident between graduation from high school and enrollment in an eligible postsecondary institution.
This bill changes academic eligibility requirements for initial receipt of the Tennessee Hope scholarship as follows:
(1) Revises the requirements described above in (1) to require a student who has graduated from an eligible high school to both achieve an overall weighted high school GPA of at least 3.0 and attain an ACT score of at least 21 or an SAT score of at least 980, instead of one or the other; and
(2) Revises the requirements described above in (2), (3), and (4) to require a student who has completed high school in a Tennessee home school program, graduated from a high school located in Tennessee that is not an eligible high school, obtained a GED, or graduated from a high school located in a neighboring state in a county contiguous to this state to attain “an ACT score of at least 23 or an SAT score of at least 1070,” instead of “an ACT score of at least 21 or an SAT score of at least 980.”
Absolutely unfair – why is the proposed ACT requirement higher for homeschool students??
Because they don’t have the minimum GPA added burden.