Legislative Dems push changes to HOPE

Georgia's popular HOPE college scholarship faces its second overhaul in as many years, as Democrats began their push Monday to overshadow last year's Republican-led reforms.

Sen. Jason Carter, D-Decatur, will sponsor most of the changes that includes making the wealthiest Georgia families ineligible for the state scholarships. Similar bills introduced last year failed to win bipartisan support. Carter and others, however, see an opening because some Republicans are worried HOPE is still not sustainable.

“We want to make sure the HOPE scholarship remains viable,” said Sen. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, chairman of the state Senate's higher education committee. “If that means we need to tweak it a little more, we’re open to doing that.”

As first reported in Sunday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, proposed changes include:

• Reinstating a cap on family income for students to be eligible for HOPE, starting at $140,000 per family. A cap existed when the program began, but was quickly lifted after the lottery proved financially successful.
• Eliminating an SAT requirement for the state's new Zell Miller program, which was launched last year by Gov. Nathan Deal to provide full tuition to the state's highest-achieving students. Instead, graduating seniors in the top 3 percent of every high school in Georgia would automatically qualify. Democrats said the change would reduce the expense of the new program. Left as is, according to state officials, the new program is likely to be an even bigger drain on an already strained HOPE program as more scholars than expected qualify.
• Erasing a new GPA requirement for technical college students receiving grant money through the HOPE program. The technical grants are different from the scholarship and tend to benefit students who are older and likely supporting families of their own. Last year, changes meant technical students must for the first time maintain a 3.0 GPA. As a result, 4,200 technical college students lost HOPE.
• Adding a student representative on the state Board of Regents, which oversees the University System of Georgia and sets tuition. Regents are appointed by the governor.

The state House and Senate higher education committees have scheduled a joint meeting for Wednesday to discuss HOPE and the impact of last year's reforms, when Deal asked lawmakers to reduce the program to keep it from going broke.