Category | News

HOPE funding in question

Published on April 14, 2009 by Heather Cook

Pending Perdue’s signature, bill may prevent decrease in HOPE funds for books and fees
Some of the HOPE Scholarship’s funding is in question due to the fledgling economy.

On February 5, 2009, Georgia’s House of Representatives unanimously voted to protect the HOPE’s awards. Right now, if Georgia’s reserves drop by just $1, HOPE will pay less for books.

The bill that was passed in the House set up a list of percentages that will help prevent a substantial decrease in HOPE funding for books and fees. The bill states that when the reserves drop by 8%, HOPE will only pay half of the original allotment for books. When the reserves drop by 16%, HOPE will no longer cover books, and when the reserves drop by 25%, HOPE will no longer cover student fees.

On March 18, 2009, the Senate passed the same bill with a 47-2 vote. The bill is now on its way to Governor Perdue’s desk to possibly be signed, although he vetoed legislation like this last year.

HOPE is an acronym for “Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally.” In order to receive HOPE, students must have graduated high school with a 3.0 GPA, have lived in Georgia for at least a year and maintain a 3.0 GPA in college.

Currently, in public schools, HOPE awards money to cover full-time or part-time tuition, any mandatory fees that HOPE approves of, and anywhere from $100-$150 for books. HOPE also covers a portion of fees for students attending private institutions. It covers $1,750 per semester for full-time students and $875 per semester for part-time students.

“For 07-08 academic year, students received 7741 different HOPE awards.  But remember that some students receiving HOPE Scholarship may have also received other types of HOPE fundings, such as HOPE Promise.  To date, for 08-09, there have been 7546 students awarded HOPE.  This is not counting the Summer 2009 awards.  With the increased enrollment for Summer 2009, we would expect that total to increase,” said Molly Mendenhall, KSU’s HOPE coordinator.

If the HOPE funding were to be reduced, students of KSU, not the college itself, would be the ones affected.

“I would still attend KSU. It is the only college education I can afford without HOPE,” said Ansley Dedier, a freshman nursing major. “However, I would drop out and work full time to save up to pay and then re-apply and continue my education and my job as well. I think it would be better if they would simply raise the requirements for HOPE.”

According to the Georgia Student Finance Commission’s Web site, over 203,000 students received HOPE in Fiscal Year 2008-2009. In total, $490 million was awarded - the largest amount it has ever awarded since its beginning in 1993.