First, you must be eligible for the Hope Scholarship;  the gpa calculation for Hope will help. Once you determine that you meet the requirements, actually applying for the HOPE Scholarship is not difficult to do but you should always communicate with the college admissions and financial aid office that  you are planning to attend in order to ensure you are completing the application steps which they require.

Step One:

Check with your High School Counselor and request a transcript to determine Hope Scholarship GPA eligibility.

Step Two:

Create a GAcollege411 account.  You may need some information from your parents to complete the application.

Step Three:

Complete the online application process as follows:

Students have three options when applying for the HOPE Scholarship:

1) If you want to be eligible for other aid along with Hope, then complete the free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). By using your GAcollege411 account and accessing the FAFSA application from GAcollege411, you can reduce the amount of time it takes to complete this form. Proceed to the FAFSA.  You will need your parents to help complete the FAFSA due to questions concerning financial matters.

If you do not want to be considered for other financial (income based) aid, you do need to complete the FAFSA and can complete the GSFAPPS application.

2) GSFAPPS (electronic application).

3) GSFAPPS (paper application).

Application Deadline

You actually have until the last day of classes or exams to submit your application in order to receive HOPE funds for that semester or quarter, we highly recommend submitting your HOPE application as early as possible.  Even if you are eligible for Hope funds, you will still be required to meet the financial deadlines for payment at the college you are attending; therefore, if you delay application, you may have to pay out of pocket.  In short, the earlier you apply, the earlier the funds are disbursed to your school and credited to your account.

If You Need Help

If you need assistance completing the application, or have other questions or concerns relating to the HOPE Scholarship, the best course of action we recommend is contacting the financial aid office at the college/university you plan to attend, meeting and discussing your questions with your high school counselor, or communicating with the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC).

To find contact information related to the financial aid office at the college/university which you plan to attend, find your college/university information using an online search engine.

You can contact GSFC(Georgia Student Finance Commision) by: E-mail gacollege411@gsfc.org

The GSFC Telephone contact number is:
Toll-Free at 1-800-505-GSFC (4732)
In metro Atlanta (770) 724-9000
A representative is available Monday – Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The post How Do I Apply for the Hope Scholarship? appeared first on Hope Scholarship.

The data is reported by the “State Higher Education Finance” report which was released by the nonprofit association of higher education chief executive officers.

The  calculations are based on “net” tuition which takes into account both the tuition and fees that students pay and also how much state aid adjusts those costs through programs such as Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship program. The amounts were adjusted for inflation, with all dollars expressed in constant 2013 values.

However, although Georgia students pay a lot more in tuition than they did five years ago, the average tuition paid by a full-time Georgia student, is just under $1000 less than the national average with Georgia at $4,484 with the U.S. average at $5,445, the report notes.

During this time period of increased tuition and fees, Georgia was also reducing the award amounts funded through the Hope Scholarship Program.  Based on GSFC (Georgia Student Finance Commission) numbers,  the HOPE Scholarship and HOPE Grant declined from a peak of $748 million in the 2010-11 school year to about $526 million for the current year.

With new rigor requirements, GPA levels (Zell Miller Scholarship), and other changes, Georgia State lawmakers also cut the number of students getting the awards as well as the value of the scholarships. For example, approximately 256,000 students received HOPE aid in 2010-11, but only approximately 198,000 received it this year.

There is some speculation that the HOPE Scholarship may have actually helped catalyze the steep rise in tuition costs, said state Rep. Spencer Frye.

Initially, HOPE covered the full costs of tuition and fees, so when the state Board of Regents hiked tuition, the dollar amount of HOPE scholarships increased in consort to compensate.  With the cost reductions in the Hope program, that is no longer the case.

Looking more closely at Georgia’s state research universities, the increase is more dramatic: in 2002-2003, University of Georgia undergrad tuition and fees were $3,616 per year. This year, it was $10,262 — not adjusted for inflation — according to state Board of Regents statistics; next year the tuition rate increases $560.

The State Board of Regents approved a 7 percent tuition increase for UGA. Georgia Tech students will see an increase of  9 percent more next year, but at most state schools the increase is a more modest 2.5 percent.

Now that the Hope Scholarship has gone through the cost reduction process, perhaps Georgia’s state universities should as well.  Perhaps, in the next five years, Georgia can come strive for best in class for lowest tuition and fees increases.

The post Georgia Second Highest Tuition Increase in Country appeared first on Hope Scholarship.

2014-2015 HOPE Scholarship Award Hourly Rate

2014-2015 Zell Miller Scholarship Award Hourly Rate

The post Georgia Tech 2014-2015 Hope Scholarship Award Amounts appeared first on Hope Scholarship.

As a result of UGA’s +/- system and Hope Scholarship method of GPA calculation, the GPA and HOPE Attempted Hours used in HOPE eligibility calculations often do not match the cumulative GPA and attempted hours on official UGA transcripts.

14-15 HOPE Amounts (Maximum $226 per Credit Hour)

To qualify for the Zell Miller Scholarship, students must graduate from an eligible high school 2007 or later with at least a 3.7 grade point average (GPA) as calculated by HOPE Scholarship regulations and must have scored at least a 1200 on the SAT or a 26 on the ACT, in a single test administration prior to high school graduation or be their high school Valedictorian or Salutatorian.

Initial eligibility for the Zell Miller Scholarship is determined by the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC). Students determined eligible for the Zell Miller Scholarship are subject to all the HOPE Scholarship eligibility requirements except they must maintain a minimum 3.3 grade point average (GPA) on all coursework attempted since high school graduation instead of the minimum 3.0 gpa required for HOPE Scholarship recipients.

Zell Miller Scholarship Award Amounts

The Zell Miller Scholarship award cannot exceed the student’s current UGA standard Undergraduate tuition amount on a per hour basis. The Zell Miller Scholarship amount initially reflected on UGA 2014-15 financial aid Awards assumes the maximum amount for which students are eligible for the semester. UGA Students Charged a Flat Tuition Rate

For 2014-15 the Zell Miller Scholarship provides a maximum Award Amount of:

• $4,295 to students enrolled in 7 or more hours, and
• $2,552 to students enrolled in 6 or fewer hours.

14-15 Zell Miller Scholarship Amounts

The post University of Georgia Hope Scholarship Award Amounts 2014-2015 appeared first on Hope Scholarship.

Today, that movement may be picking up increased momentum.

During the years 2010-2011 with Georgia’s Hope scholarship merit based program facing financial difficulty, lawmakers agreed to increase the academic requirements for the Hope and Zell Miller scholarships instead of defunding the program or adding a financial need component for eligibility.

College administrators appear to agree that the change will help keep the program funded and remain solvent.

There are some who argue that the increased academic rigor tends to favor students from higher income families; however, the changes have leveled the playing field with respect to grade inflation and lack of grade standardization among schools. The Georgia legislature added an SAT/Act minimum score target along with a minimum GPA for the largest of the
hope scholarship awards, the Zell Miller Scholarship. Having an SAT/ACT minimum level provide a standardized measure of achievement to balance the student GPA scores which can have different weighting and difficulty levels based on the curriculum and grading standards of each particular school.

Georgia—whose Hope scholarship program is one of the largest merit-based programs
in the country and is seen as a standard by which other programs are measured—is at the forefront of an increasing national debate over state-backed financial aid for college students. The discussion centers around whether states should provide aid to the highest-achieving students, regardless of income, or should state funding go to students based on financial need?

Advocates of merit scholarships, or a combination of merit and financial need, say focusing
on achievement attempts to reduce a “brain drain” of talented residents going elsewhere to college in other states, and rewards those who study hard and apply themselves. There is also the thought that if a sports athlete can receive scholarships based on physical ability then why can’t an “academic athlete” receive a similar award for intellectual ability.

Georgia has not rested on the changes made in 2010-2011. Recently, the Georgia Legislature defined an increased set of academic requirements, or academic rigor, that high school students must attain to be considered for Hope scholarship or the Zell Miller Scholarship. This combined with the minimum GPA and minimum SAT/ACT (for Zell Miller) helps to ensure a level playing field for determining what actually defines the academic excellence level required for merit eligibility. With these continue improvements,
Georgia will continue to be at the forefront, and therefore, the standard, by which other states measure their own merit based programs.

The post Georgia’s Hope Scholarship is the standard for other states merit scholarship programs appeared first on Hope Scholarship.

First, a plus/minus grading system assigns a plus/minus letter grade based on a numeric grade scale.  For example:

• Plus/Minus System
• 94-100: A (4.0)
• 90-93:   A- (3.7)
• 87-89:    B+ (3.3)
• 84-86:    B (3.0)
• 80-83:    B- (2.7)
• 77-79:    C+ (2.3)
• 74-76:    C (2.0)
• 70-73:    C- (1.7)
• and so on….

The above grade scale is for example purposes only.  For Hope Scholarship GPA purposes all grades are treated as non plus/minus on a 4.0 scale.  So, an A-(3.7) would be treated as an A (4.0).  A B+(3.3) would be treated as a B (3.0).  This is done because not all schools use a plus/minus system, and for those that do, there are a number of different plus/minus systems used.  The University of Georgia uses a plus/minus system with no A+ while other schools may use a plus/minus system including an A+.

When all is said and done, your actual graduation, transcript GPA will be different than your Hope Scholarship eligibility GPA if you attend a plus/minus high school or college/university.

The post GPA Calculation with Plus Minus Grades for Hope Scholarship appeared first on Hope Scholarship.

The board approved a 2.5 percent undergraduate tuition increase for 27 of the 31 colleges and universities in the University System of Georgia. The rate change means most students will pay between $32 and $85 more in tuition each semester, depending on the where they are enrolled.

Students will see even greater increases at the system’s four research institutions:

• At Georgia Tech, tuition for undergraduates will rise 9 percent. Students will pay $372 more per semester.
• At the University of Georgia, tuition will increase 7 percent. Students will pay and additional $281 per semester
• At Georgia State and Georgia Regents universities, students will pay 4 percent more per semester, or $156 and $155, respectively, beginning in the fall.

Here are the FY2015_Mandatory_Fees

The post University System of Georgia Tuition and Fees 2014-2015 appeared first on Hope Scholarship.

• Students must keep a minimum 3.0 HOPE grade point average (GPA) to stay qualified for the HOPE Scholarship.
• All college credit hours taken (attempted) since high school graduation are used in calculating the HOPE Attempted Hours and the HOPE GPA.
• HOPE Scholarship students are monitored to see if they are maintaining a minimum 3.0 HOPE GPA at the end of the semesters where they have attempted their 30th, 60th, 90th hours and at the conclusion of each spring semester.
• The HOPE Scholarship Award Amount is based on a per credit hour basis. Payment is maxed out or capped at 15 hours per semester.
• Once a student has 127 HOPE Attempted Hours or he/she has a total of 127 HOPE Paid Hours, or has earned a bachelor’s degree, the student is no longer eligible. This is applicable to all degree programs.
• HOPE Scholarship has a 127 hour “hard” maximum cap. As an example, if a student ends a semester with 126 HOPE Attempted or Paid Hours, the HOPE Scholarship will only pay for 1 hour of the HOPE award rate for the following semester (as long as the student satisfies other eligibility requirements).  However, if the degree program requires more than 127 hours, the HOPE Scholarship will cover the hours that are required for the degree program.
• Students who lose their HOPE Scholarship are only allowed to regain qualification one time.
• HOPE Scholarship eligibility for students who received HOPE Scholarship before summer 2011 will end June 30, 2015. Eligibility for students not receiving the HOPE Scholarship before the summer of 2011 will expire 7 years after the date of the students’ high school graduation.

See more information regarding the HOPE Scholarship Program that is available on the GAcollege411 Web site.

You can review the 2013-14 HOPE Scholarship regulations at the Hope Scholarship Knowledgebase.

Example HOPE Scholarship Award Amounts for the University of Georgia

The dollar amount of each semester’s HOPE Scholarship award is determined by multiplying $218.46 X the number of hours in which the student is enrolled, up to 15 hours.

Since the HOPE Scholarship amount is based on the total number of hours enrolled in the semester, the HOPE amount will be less when students enroll in fewer than 15 hours as reflected below. The HOPE Award Amount cannot be increased for students who enroll in more than 15 hours.  The award assumes that all tuition above 15 hours is actually capped at a 15 hour rate; that is, 15 hours and above is considered a full time rate and is charged at 15 hours.

See the GSFC “HOPE Award Amounts by Institution for Fiscal Year 2014, Beginning Fall Term” at here for enrollment in 15 hours or less.

Additional UGA Specific HOPE Scholarship Information

HOPE Grade Point Average (GPA) and HOPE Attempted Hours under at +/- system

As an example, the University of Georgia implements a Plus/Minus grading system; however, not all schools have a +/- system; therefore, for the purpose of calculating the cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) for HOPE Scholarship eligibility, only letter grades of A through F are recognized so any Plus or Minus will be disregarded.

2013-14 HOPE Amounts (Maximum $218.46 per Credit Hour)

The Zell Miller Scholarship Program

For a student to qualify for the new Zell Miller Scholarship, the student must graduate from an eligible high school 2007 or later with at minimum 3.7 grade point average (GPA) as calculated by HOPE Scholarship regulations and the student also must have scored at least a 1200 on the SAT (Math and Verbal) or a 26 on the ACT Composite, in a single test administration prior to high school graduation or be their high school Valedictorian or Salutatorian.

Initial eligibility for the Zell Miller Scholarship is determined by the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC). Students determined eligible for the Zell Miller Scholarship are subject to all the HOPE Scholarship eligibility requirements except they must maintain a minimum 3.3 grade point average (GPA) on all coursework attempted since high school graduation instead of the minimum 3.0 gpa required for HOPE Scholarship recipients.

You can review the 2013-14 Zell Miller Scholarship regulations at the Hope Scholarship Knowledge base.

Zell Miller Scholarship Award Amounts

For 2013-14 the Zell Miller Scholarship provides a maximum Award Amount of:

• $4,014 to students enrolled in 7 or more hours, and
• $2,385 to students enrolled in 6 or fewer hours.

Returning Students and the Zell Miller Scholarship

The Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC) has provided colleges and universities the names of students who graduated from a Georgia high school prior to 2011 with at least a 3.7 grade point average (GPA) and (prior to high school graduation) scored at least a 1200 on the SAT or a 26 on the ACT in a single test administration or were their high school valedictorian or salutatorian. The Zell Miller Scholarship will be awarded to these students instead of the HOPE Scholarship if they are currently eligible for the HOPE Scholarship and their college HOPE Grade Point Average (GPA) at their most recent HOPE Scholarship checkpoint was at least 3.3.

Maximum 127 Attempted or Paid Hours

The Zell Miller Scholarship has a 127 Attempted Hour and Paid Hour hard cap. All college credit hours attempted since high school graduation are counted in determining the number of Zell Scholarship Attempted Hours. If the student finishes a semester with 126 HOPE and/or Zell Miller Scholarship Attempted or Paid hours, the Zell Miller Scholarship will only pay for 1 hour the following semester (assuming the student continues to meet other eligibility requirements).

Zell Miller Scholarship Grade Point Average (GPA) and Attempted Hours

As with the HOPE Scholarship, Plus/Minus grades are not used for calculation of the Zell Miller Scholarship GPA.  For the purpose of calculating the cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) for HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarship eligibility, regulations recognize only letter grades of A through F so any Plus or Minus will be disregarded.

2013-14 Zell Miller Scholarship Amounts

The post Key Points of the Hope Scholarship Program appeared first on Hope Scholarship.

The hope scholarship knowledge base format allows us to keep a repository of information concerning the hope scholarship.  We have information concerning regulations, history, statistical information, changes, award amounts, and hope scholarship programs in other states (the site is targeted to the hope scholarship in Georgia).

So, are we going to maintain this website as well as the new one?  Of course!  The primary purpose of this website is to give both information and opinion (my opinion, of course) concerning hope scholarship legislation and changes.  The primary purpose of the new site, hopescholarship.org, will be to maintain an information repository for the hope scholarship.  This will be concentrated on data and facts, not opinion.  If you want some insight into hope scholarship changes, read hope-scholarship.net; however, if you just want to know specific details and want to find it fast, use hopescholarship.org.

Finally, we will be adding a hope scholarship forum to hopescholarship.org.  This will be a great place for people to help each other.  The forum will cover topics that you, the readers, deem important.  If it becomes a useful place for questions and answers, I will look for moderators or contributors to help with the forum.  We think it will be helpful to all.

We hope both sites continue to help you.  As always, feel free to comment or contact us with your ideas, suggestions, corrections or anything else that you think will help yourself or others!

The post HopeScholarship.org Opens Knowledge Base appeared first on Hope Scholarship.

Meet one of the following academic requirements:

• Graduate from a HOPE-eligible high school as the Valedictorian or the Salutatorian.
• Graduate from an eligible high school with a 3.7 grade gpa combined with a score of 1200 on the reading and math portions of the SAT test or a 26 composite score on the ACT test in a single test administration.
• Complete a HOPE eligible home study program with a 3.7 gpa combined with a score of 1200 on the reading and math portions of the SAT test or a 26 composite score on the ACT test in a single test administration.
• Graduate from an ineligible high school or complete an ineligible home study program with a score of 1200 on the SAT reading and math portions or a 26 composite score on the ACT test in a single test administration and then earn a 3.3 gpa on 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours of college coursework taken after high school graduation or home study completion. This option allows for payment of the first 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours after they are taken.
• Have first enrolled in an eligible post-secondary institution in 2007 or later, as a freshman, meeting one of the academic qualifications listed above and having earned a 3.3 cumulative gpa at the most recent HOPE Scholarship checkpoint.

Award Amounts

The money provided to Zell Miller Scholars varies and depends on the type of institution you are attending and your specific enrollment. (see award amounts).

Private Institutions

Students attending private colleges or universities receive the following:

• Full-time students: $2,000 per semester, $1,333 per quarter
• Half-time students: $1,000 per semester, $666 per quarter

Award Limits

A college degree-seeking student is ineligible for the Zell Miller Scholarship if the student has:

• Received payment from any combination of Hope Grant,  Zell Miller Scholarship, HOPE Scholarship, and Accel Program funds (through Spring term) totaling 127 semester (190 quarter) hours of credit; or
• Attempted 127 semester (190 quarter) hours of college credit, regardless of whether or not Zell Miller funds were received while attempting the hours; or
• Has earned a 4 year college degree, regardless of whether or not Zell Miller funds were received while earning the degree.
• Graduated from high school more than seven years ago and did not receive a HOPE Scholarship payment prior to Summer term 2011.

Application Procedure

• Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) By using your GAcollege411 account and accessing the FAFSA application from GAcollege411, you can reduce the amount of time it takes to complete this form.
• Electronic application, with GAcollege411.
• Printable paper application.

Application Deadline

While you have until the last day of classes or exams to submit your application in order to receive Zell Miller funds for that semester or quarter, you should submit your HOPE application as early as possible. The earlier you apply, the earlier the funds are disbursed to your school and credited to your account.

Where to Go for Help

If you need help filling out an application or have other questions relating to the Zell Miller Scholarship, contact the financial aid office at the school you plan to attend, talk with your high school counselor, or contact the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC).

You can contact the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC) by:

E-mail:
gacollege411@gsfc.org

Telephone:
Call us toll-free at: 1-800-505-GSFC (4732)
In Metro Atlanta: (770) 724-9000
A representative is available Monday – Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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