Georgia Hope Scholarship Changes
The Hope Scholarship is now broken out into two programs based on GPA graduating from high school and while in college. The Hope Scholarship now has a cap based on 90% of the 2010-2011 tuition rates. This means that the award
amount for Hope will go down over time with respect to the tuition rates at each institution assuming that tuition rates rise each year. The Zell Miller Scholarship does not have a cap. Book fees are eliminated. The hope scholarship changes are mandated by the state legislature of Georgia. The hope scholarship changes are a result of economic changes that have resulted in a decrease in revenues from the Georgia lottery. These revenues provide the funding for the awards tied to the program. Along with funding decreases has been an increase in both the number of students staying in the state of Georgia for college and in tuition rates from the state colleges and universities. With the tuition rates increasing at a rate higher than the inflation index along with more students applying and qualifying for the scholarship, funding is not keeping up with demand. Therefore, the Georgia legislature stepped in to decrease the award levels and added additional requirements for students to be eligible for the highest award dollars.
The table below details the Hope Scholarship Changes. This reflects changes made for the 2011-2012 school year. See this blog post for 2012 changes to hope scholarship.
Hope Scholarship |
Zell Miller Scholarship |
|
| GPA Graduating High School | 3.0 | 3.7 |
| SAT/ACT Requirement | None | 1200(reading/math) SAT26 Composite ACT |
| Other | None | A Valedictorian or Salutatorian is eligible independent of GPA or SAT/ACT Score |
| GPA in College | Maintain 3.0 | Maintain 3.3If between 3.0 and 3.3, then coverts to regular HOPE |
| Award Amounts | 90% of 2010-2011 tuition rates | 100% tuition |
| Book fee Allowance | None | None |
| Regain Eligibility after loss due to GPA | One Chance to regain | One Chance to regain |
| Maximum number of semester hours to receive scholarship | 127 | 127 |
| High School requirements starting 2015 | Must have certain number of hours of rigorous courses (math, science, language) | Must have certain number of hours of rigorous courses (math, science, language) |
why were told by Hope that my daughter has to have straight A’s for the Hope Scholarship???
You do not have to have all A’s for Hope. You need a 3.0 GPA for the normal Hope Scholarship. You need a 3.7 and a 1200 or higher on SAT for Zell Miller.
I received a call today from the GSFC saying that my daughter was no longer eligible for the HOPE even though she has already been approved and is about to start college in a few weeks. We home schooled through High School with a HOPE Eligible High School accredited through the Georgia Accrediting Commision. They told me today that because we filed a declaration of intent to home school that we are no longer eligible except for retroactive payment. They said that there was an interpretation of the guidelines that changed in February 2015 that said that anyone who filed a DOI was no longer eligible and that accreditation for home school high schools was no longer accepted for HOPE. They said that would would no longer calculate GPA for any student with a DOI. This has put us in a horrible position if this is true. My daughter graduated with a 3.72 GPA and 39 semester hours from college through dual enrollment. Her ACT scores are not in the 80th percentile so she doesn’t qualify there. Please tell me what you know about this.