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Atlanta Forward: Education

Is fear of losing the HOPE Scholarship causing students at Georgia Tech and other colleges to reconsider challenging STEM degrees?

Credit: John Spink

Credit: John Spink

Is fear of losing the HOPE Scholarship causing students at Georgia Tech and other colleges to reconsider challenging STEM degrees?
By Maureen Downey
Oct 25, 2015

Georgia Tech students have long insisted they have the toughest courses in the state, which may explain why so many of them lose their GPA-based HOPE Scholarships. Given Georgia’s need to encourage more students to enter the tech, math and science fields, I discuss whether we should re-calibrate HOPE based on a student’s major. In a guest column, an advocate argues children of undocumented parents should be allowed to pay in-state tuition at Georgia’s public campuses. Readers also sound off on Georgia’s higher ed policies on children of illegal immigrants, policies now under review by the state Supreme Court.

About the Author

Maureen Downey has written editorials and opinion pieces about local, state and federal education policy since the 1990s.

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