Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor found new evidence Tuesday that tinkering with the state's popular HOPE scholarship can be risky political business.

Blaming HOPE's financial woes on rising college costs, Taylor called for the Board of Regents to freeze tuition and fees for three years.

Gov. Sonny Perdue, Senate leader Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) and University System Chancellor Thomas Meredith immediately declared that a bad idea.

Taylor, for his part, rejected two proposals certain to be debated during the 2004 legislative session: eliminating the money HOPE scholars get for books and fees and linking the scholarship to a minimum SAT score, a pet idea of Perdue's.

Taylor's opening shot set up a potential battle royal, pitting a Republican governor against a Democratic lieutenant governor bent on unseating him in 2006.

"I oppose any cuts to the program," said Taylor who as a state senator helped push the bill creating HOPE through the General Assembly. "In the name of saving HOPE, God, let us not destroy it. . . . In asking for this freeze, I am asking for the regents and the University System to step up and do its part in the name of saving the HOPE program."

Perdue and John- son, who is Senate president pro tempore, said Taylor's suggestion would do nothing to solve HOPE's long-range financial problems.

"What the lieutenant governor proposed does not save HOPE, it bankrupts HOPE," Perdue said.

Meredith said Taylor was wrong to point a finger at rising tuition. "We don't want to appear to be defensive about this, but we can't stand idly by and let the reputation of the board and system be besmirched in any way."

Taylor, speaking at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce's annual legislative breakfast, said the state should start using a standard 3.0 grade-point average to determine HOPE eligibility. And he suggested college students' grades should be checked more frequently to make sure they are maintaining the B average required to keep the scholarship.

Both proposals are in legislation being drawn up by members of a state commission that studied HOPE's future late last year.

Officials have estimated that the state-lottery-funded HOPE scholarships and the pre-kindergarten program would be forced to dip into financial reserves in the 2006-'07 budget year. Some recent budget proposals predict the programs could run short as soon as next year.

Under HOPE, students with a B average or higher get funding to attend Georgia public colleges: Tuition, mandatory fees and textbooks are paid for. Technical school students also are eligible, and students at private state colleges may receive a $3,000 annual grant.

Legislation being filed by Senate Higher Education Chairman Bill Hamrick (R-Douglasville) and House Higher Education Chairwoman Louise McBee (D-Athens) would end payments for books and fees starting this fall, increasing some students' costs by more than $1,000 a year.

Taylor said he opposed cutting fees and books fromHOPE because college costs have risen much faster than inflation. He said the Board of Regents had been free to raise tuition and fees because HOPE paid those for scholarship students, driving up the program's cost.

Since 1980, Taylor said, tuition at Georgia's research universities jumped an average 16 percent a year.

Perdue and Meredith said Taylor's numbers were way off. "The lieutenant governor may not be a HOPE scholar in math," Perdue said.

The Board of Regents raised tuition at research universities 15 percent last year. But Meredith said if they had raised tuition 16 percent every year since 1980, a semester at Georgia Tech or Georgia State University would cost $10,307, rather than the current $1,604. Officials in the lieutenant governor's office said his numbers came from the Board of Regents.

Tuition at Georgia's research universities ranks 35th in the nation.

University officials blame recent tuition increases on cuts in state funding. Meredith said funding had been cut over $200 million since November 2001.

Taylor pledged to fight for funding for the universities if they froze tuition.

University of Georgia President Michael Adams, who listened to Taylor's HOPE speech Tuesday, said the proposal would hurt the Athens school, where enrollment and costs have soared.

"We have very high quality at low cost," Adams said. "The worst thing we could do is get caught in a position of lowering quality.

Taylor's HOPE proposals weren't the only ones voiced Tuesday.

House Speaker Terry Coleman (D-Eastman), speaking at the same event, said the state may want to make HOPE a forgivable loan. The state has programs that promise students money if they remain in Georgia to work after graduation. If they don't, they must repay the money. HOPE scholars need not repay their scholarship if they leave the state.

"It doesn't do us any good to educate children and adults who leave this state and practice their profession in other states," Coleman said.

Meanwhile, House Republicans announced support for Perdue's push to set a minimum SAT score for HOPE scholars. Those who don't make the cut but have a B average would get the scholarship for their first college semester. If they had a B average after their first semester, they would continue getting the scholarship.

"I think we were expecting to have to deal with political wrangling," said Hamrick, who co-chaired the HOPE study commission. "All we can do is keep plowing along."

Staff writer Kelly Simmons contributed to this article.