Quantcast
Channel: Bethany Sumner
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 9

HOPE Scholarship Cuts and its Effects in the Classroom

0
0

Below is an article that I wrote for the Learner’s Voice, a blog from the Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) at Georgia Tech. It was also later published on hope-scholarship.net.

HOPE Scholarship Cuts and its Effects in the Classroom

In the wake of the Great Recession, governments everywhere have tried to slash spending. Unfortunately, education has not been spared from these cuts. In the past four years alone, the state contribution to Georgia Tech has been reduced by 90 million dollars or approximately 31%.[1] Colleges across Georgia have had to cope with shrinking funds, which have led to pay freezes, reduction in faculty, decrease in admissions, fewer degree programs and course offerings, and even a controversial maneuver to merge eight colleges in the University System of Georgia into four. In addition to these measures, universities turn to their students to help make up for lost funds by raising the cost of tuition and adding new mandatory fees.

The inflation of tuition and extra fees has placed increased pressure on the HOPE scholarship, Georgia’s state scholarship program, which until recently has covered full tuition and fees for students who maintain a 3.0 GPA. About 30% of students in the University System of Georgia receive this scholarship.[2] From its inception in 1993, HOPE has awarded $6.4 billion dollars to help almost 1.5 million Georgians pay for college[3] without requiring any public funds. A portion of the revenue from the Georgia Lottery has fully sustained the program to this point but now risks falling short of the needed expenses for its continuation. The state legislature’s latest response to this problem was the passage of HB 326, a bill that dramatically cuts the coverage of the HOPE scholarship.

HB 326, which was signed into law one year ago, broke HOPE into a two-tiered system. In order to receive the same benefits as before, students now must maintain a 3.7 GPA throughout high school and a 3.3 GPA in college. This has been renamed the Zell Miller Scholarship. What is still known as the HOPE scholarship no longer covers full tuition, mandatory fees, or book stipends. To receive this, students still must maintain a 3.0 GPA, and in addition, they must score a 1200 or higher on the math and reading sections of the SAT. This requirement represents a significant barrier to entry, considering that 1200 is two standard deviations above the average score of Georgia high school graduates: 978.[4] The changes to the HOPE scholarship program introduce new problems for students and campuses throughout Georgia.

Continue reading on the Learner’s Voice


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 9

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images