In order to protect the HOPE scholarship for future college bound Georgia high school student's local citizens cannot be afraid to make changes. If the state does not make a change by the year 2007, the program will top $700 million. With the state lottery not expected to increase in revenue there will not be enough money to pay for HOPE. This fact leaves Georgia politicians in a "pickle," it is either scale back the HOPE or dip into the state treasury to keep the scholarship in place. .
In order to preserve the program for our posterity there needs to be changes made. The first change that needs to take place is the grade average rose, achieving a 3.0 or a "B" is not a hard task to do if students apply themselves. Set the bar high and students will rise to the occasion. The second necessary change is the income cap needs to apply again. If a student's parents earn $100,000, they should receive a partial scholarship that would cover 50 percent of the expenses. If they make less then the limit they receive a full scholarship.
When the lottery-funded program began in 1993, it provided free college tuition to state wide high school students that cumulated a B average (3.0) and whose parents earned$66,000 or less. The following year proceeded to $100,000 as the income cap, and the year later became eliminated. Since the abolishment of the $100,000 limit, students whose families could easily pay their children to attend college with money to spare qualify. .
With a "B" average as the doormat for qualifying for the HOPE, it is not exactly a momentous academic accomplishment. In 2002, 56 percent of Georgia's' graduating seniors qualified. A scholarship that more than half of the state wide graduating class can qualify for is not much of a scholarship if that. It seems more a privilege program; in all these cases, costs always explode. .
Since the creation of HOPE, tuition to Georgia's top ten universities has gone up 73 percent.
