HOPE scholarships would no longer help pay for student fees and books if a plan backed by an influential state commission is enacted.

The HOPE Scholarship Joint Study Commission decided Wednesday the award should no longer help cover the cost of student fees and books -- more than $1,000 a year for HOPE scholars at Georgia Tech, Georgia State University and the University of Georgia. No formal vote was taken, but the 20-member commission informally agreed.

If the state Legislature, which convenes in January, endorses the cost-cutting plan, the change could take place as early as next fall and would affect students who now have HOPE scholarships.

The commission is to meet again in November before drawing up recommendations on how to keep HOPE from running out of money. Halting payments for fees and books is likely to be part of the final list of recommendations to the governor and state legislators.

There was no consensus on another proposal -- to require that students get a minimum SAT score, along with a B average, to qualify for the HOPE scholarship. The commission was split, even after Gov. Sonny Perdue modified his proposal Wednesday to give students with low SAT scores a trial semester on HOPE.

Eliminating payments for student fees and books would save about $125.6 million next year and more than $200 million a year by the end of the decade, according to state estimates.

The proposal is sure to be unpopular among students and parents. In 2000, Gov. Roy Barnes tried to cut back on student fee payments, but backed down after complaints from students.

Hannae Berhanu, a Georgia State University student, said she would have to work more to make up the difference.

"It's not fair," she said Wednesday. "I'm going to have to beg my parents for money."

'Practical approach'

Lawmakers have been squeamish about making any major changes to the popular scholarship program. But Senate Higher Education Chairman Bill Hamrick (R-Douglasville) said he thinks legislators would support the proposal.

"This is a practical approach that seems to have bipartisan consensus," said Hamrick, who is co-chairman of the HOPE commission.

Commission members think they can sell the idea to the public.

"Everybody in Georgia knows there is a HOPE crisis," said Ken Breeden, a member who is also head of the state's technical school system.

Students with a B average or higher receive full tuition to a public college and money for books and fees. Technical school students are eligible, and students at Georgia private colleges may receive a $3,000 annual grant.

The HOPE commission was formed this year to find ways to guide the program through rough financial waters. In a few years, the cost of HOPE scholarships and pre-kindergarten classes is expected to exceed lottery revenues by more than $200 million a year. That's due largely to rapid growth in the number of students earning HOPE awards and the rising cost of tuition.

'Extremely ticked off'

At Georgia Tech, HOPE scholars would have to pay an additional $1,168 a year for fees and books, according to the state Student Finance Commission. At UGA, the cost would be $1,170, and at Georgia State, $1,012.

Lindsey Stephenson, a Georgia State freshman, said students "will be extremely ticked off." She said she spends about $400 a semester on books, so the HOPE stipend of $300 a year already doesn't pay the full cost.

Chase Daughtrey, an Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College sophomore who is a member of the HOPE commission, said eliminating the book allowance will especially hurt poor students who rely on it for expensive class materials.

"I think we can live with eliminating fees, but I would like the book allowance to stay," he said.

Perdue spokesman Dan McLagan wouldn't say whether the governor supports the idea. "We welcome them looking at a host of options," McLagan said.

While the commission discussed Perdue's suggestion to include a minimum SAT score as a requirement for a HOPE scholarship, it put off making a decision.

Critics have argued that more than 30 percent of freshmen, including two-thirds of African-American freshmen on HOPE, would not be eligible if the SAT requirement were set at 1,000.

Perdue contends that requiring a minimum SAT score would give students an incentive to perform better on the test, thereby raising the statewide average on the college entrance exam. Georgia's average SAT score of 984 ranks last out of 50 states.

After complaints that the SAT requirement would unfairly affect black and rural students, Perdue asked the commission to consider giving students with a B average who score below the SAT minimum a HOPE scholarship for one semester. If they maintain the B average over that initial semester, they would retain the scholarship. If not, they would lose it.

"The governor would like to place more emphasis on doing well on the SAT, but not exclude people in the meantime," said Shelley Nickel, director of the Georgia Student Finance Commission, which administers HOPE.

Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor said he didn't like the governor's new proposal any better than the earlier one.

"The original purpose of HOPE was not to limit but to expand opportunity for hard work," Taylor said Wednesday. "All numbers show that linking the SAT to HOPE is a bad idea, so why are we still talking about it?"

McLagan said the new suggestion wasn't prompted by criticism. He said the governor was just presenting another option. "What is most amazing to us is the Democrats' refusal to do anything to help these scores," McLagan said. "After giving us SAT scores on par with Chechnya, the Democratic legislators are terrified the governor's plan would actually increase these scores."