A state commission studying ways to preserve the HOPE scholarship recommended this morning the program stop paying for student fees and books starting next fall.

The change, which would increase the cost of college for HOPE recipients by hundreds of dollars a year, would save the program $125 million next year and more than $200 million annually by the end of the decade.

Senate Higher Education Chairman Bill Hamrick (R-Douglasville), co-chairman of the commission, said the proposal would help tide HOPE over until a solution can be put in place to solve the program's long-term financial problems.

By fiscal 2008, which begins July 1, 2007, the HOPE scholarship program and pre-kindergarten classes will cost about $270 million more than lottery revenue provides, according to state estimates. Reserves will help keep the program in the black for a few years, but the deficit is expected to balloon by the end of the decade without changes in HOPE.

Under HOPE, public college students with at least a B average get tuition, fee and book money. The proposed change, which may require approval by the Legislature, would eliminate the fee and book payments.

"Everybody in Georgia knows there is a HOPE crisis," said Ken Breeden, a member of the commission and head of the state's technical school system. "If you let this window [to act] pass and let it go on until next year, you're going to have a much bigger backlash."

The commission also reached consensus on other changes, but the book and fee elimination would have the greatest impact.

Members still haven't agreed on two proposals that would keep thousands of students from getting the scholarship -- creating a uniform grading system based on how college grade point averages are determined, and making students obtain a minimum SAT score to earn the scholarship.

Gov. Sonny Perdue has proposed the minimum SAT score, but he's expected to recommend a slight change in his plan this afternoon.

Perdue's initial proposal would have prevented students that made below a minimum score on the SAT from getting HOPE, even if they had a B average. Today, he is expected to say students could get the award for 15 hours -- half of a college school year -- to see if they can maintain the B average in college. If they can, they would retain the scholarship.