Georgia's HOPE scholarship

[kinetickid]

Here's the NY Times article about this: www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/us/07hope.html

the Hope scholarship. The largest merit-based college scholarship program in the United States it offers any Georgia high school student with a B-average four years of free college tuition.

Okay, I know I'm completely full of myself, but with grade inflation and all that, a B- average is way too low for a full-ride to college, don't you think?

[973beachbum]

A majority of freshmen in Georgia have grades good enough to qualify for Hope, which covers tuition, some books and fees — but not housing costs — at any Georgia university or technical school.

And even though as many as two-thirds of Hope students let their college grades slip so much that they no longer qualify

They seem to agree with you that the bar needs to be raised. I agree that a B- isn't the worlds hardest grades to have. I guess my question would be do all classes treated alike? Does the A I get in gym or art or tech ed count the same as the A I get in Latin or Chemistry? The tougher the schedule the tougher it is to maintain that GPA.

To me it would be fairer if they didn't count classes like gym and art and tech classes in the GPA for getting the scholarship. They should just count regular academic classes like Algebra, Foreign Lang, English, History, Sciences etc.

And with everyone always talking about grade inflation how come my kids never get any?

[thyme4change]

Wasn't the original intent to provide free education for residents from pre-k all the way through college gradution if desired, but they decided to add in the min GPA as to not completely errode their state schools?

Conceptually, I'm not against this, even with a low GPA. I would rather my state tax dollars send an "average" in-state student through the state university than to pay a huge scholarship to an out of state student.

[whoisjohngalt]

Believe it or not, I would rather give scholarships for grades, than for sports. I am VERY VERY anti sports scholarships. So, even if the kid is your B-C avg student, but wants to go to college, I say - yay you!! Getting a free education bc you can throw a ball is just seems very wrong to me

Lena

[Deleted]

This isn't merit-based but rather lottery $$$. They wanted a lottery to fund education, and this was the ultimate reward. To be honest, I wish Alabama would do it, too. It makes me sick that Alabamians educate the good children of Tennessee, Florida, and Georgia (and probably some of the bad ones, too.)

[zibazinski]

Florida offers the same thing kind of. 3.5 or better free tuition and money for books. 3.0 - 75% tuition. Both my kids went to college using that money, thank GOD!!! DD wants an extra 2 years so loans it will be if she can get them.

[2kids10horses]

Only the "academic" classes count for determining GPA. Language Arts (English), Math, Science, Social Studies, Foreign Language, etc. Classes like Art, Band, PE, do not count for determining GPA. To qualify for HOPE, you have to have a 3.0 average or better, A=4, B=3, C=2, etc.

My daughter has a 4.0 average, so hers is easy to calculate. She's ranked in the top 10 of her class of 490, and she takes Honors Classes, and AP classes. AP classes are supposed to be the equivalent of a college level class, and they will take an AP Acheivement Test at the end of the year.

When the HOPE scholarship was first created, it was for college only. It's funded by Lottery money. Well... after a while, somebody figured out that the main players of the lottery, the "less fortunate", were buying all the tickets, but it was paying for the smart rich kids to go to college! Well! This can't be fair! So, they added in paying for Pre-K, for 4 year olds. The Public Schools already had Kindergarten, so now, they provide a year of day care for the Lottery ticket buyers!

I can't speak for grade inflation, from personal experience (or my kids' ) because they both work hard at school and make all A's. I have heard that teachers are pressured to give those kids at the margin (C+, B- students) a bump so they qualify for HOPE.

I think they ought to raise the grade requirement to something higher than 3.0. How high? I don't know. But it ought be really be for the kids who really work for it.

[kinetickid]

Jan 7, 2011 22:52:33 GMT -5 2kids10horses said:

I think they ought to raise the grade requirement to something higher than 3.0. How high? I don't know. But it ought be really be for the kids who really work for it.

I also think ACT/SAT scores should be a factor since they're not subject to inflation. And since every kid who goes to college takes the ACT or SAT, it wouldn't be an extra burden.

[2kids10horses]

I considered the SATs and ACTs, but the Technical Schools don't use those. There is a Technical College in my town that teaching stuff like Heating/Air, Commercial Driving, Welding, etc. The HOPE pays for that, too.

[kinetickid]

Jan 7, 2011 23:13:29 GMT -5 2kids10horses said:

I considered the SATs and ACTs, but the Technical Schools don't use those. There is a Technical College in my town that teaching stuff like Heating/Air, Commercial Driving, Welding, etc. The HOPE pays for that, too.

Well, I support technical trades, so perhaps we could come up with an alternative requirement for those kids in technical/trade schools?

[2kids10horses]

There is a standardized test the Trade School uses. I don't know the name of it, my kids are more academic oriented rather than trade oriented.

My daughter may or may not choose to go to UGA. She wants to be a Music Major. She plays in the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, and would like to persue a music career. She's trying to decide whether to go to a conservatory where she'll primarily study music 24/7, or go to a regular college where in addition to her Music Major, she may take traditional college classes. She likes school, so she may choose the latter. UGA is strongly recruiting her. If she chooses that option, she may then choose to go to a conservatory for graduate work.

This music stuff is new to me. I really don't know how to guide her on this.

My son, fortunately, wants to go to GA Tech. That, I understand!