Torressa Thomas graduated from Lithonia High School with a 3.8 grade point average and aspirations of becoming a doctor.

Feeling good about her academic abilities, she piled on biology, chemistry, calculus and English during her first semester at State University of West Georgia. She got two D's, an F and a B. Now she's thinking about becoming a physician's assistant.

"I'm not going to say I wasn't at all prepared, but I was not as prepared as other students," said Thomas, 20. "I didn't know what to expect in college."

Like many students whose high school grades are good enough for a HOPE scholarship, Thomas found out the A's she got in high school didn't mean much when she got to college.

The lottery-funded HOPE scholarship doles out more than $260 million in college merit scholarships each year, and eligibility hinges on just one thing: a B average.

But the value of that B varies widely from high school to high school, and many HOPE recipients find themselves unprepared when they get to college.

Last year, 56 percent of Georgia's high school graduates qualified for HOPE by finishing school with at least a B average in core courses like math and English.

Yet only about 40 percent of full-time HOPE recipients are able to survive their freshman year with their averages intact.

Officials say they can't put a dollar amount on how much the state is spending on students who can't keep a B average throughout college, but it's clear many are showing up on Georgia campuses underprepared.

Dozens of metro Atlanta high schools are handing out mostly A's and B's to students. Despite their good high school grades, students from these schools often must take noncredit remedial courses in college, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis shows.

At a time when the funds for HOPE are running out, this raises questions about whether a B average means much, and whether the HOPE scholarship is going to students who didn't earn it.

University System Chancellor Thomas Meredith told the Board of Regents last week that high school grades are "kind of all over the place in the state."

Some lower-end B students "are all over our remedial courses because they don't know anything," Meredith said.

Among the findings from the newspaper's analysis of state Department of Education and University System records:

•  A B grade at one high school often bears no relation to a B at another. For example, at Cobb County's Walton High School and DeKalb County's Towers High School, the average GPA for students headed to state public colleges in 2000 was a B. By the end of freshman year of college, it's clear the two groups of students didn't perform equally well. The Walton graduates had an average GPA of 2.9 (just below a B average on a standard four-point scale). Towers graduates had an average GPA of 2.2.

The schools also differ greatly in average SAT scores. Walton boasts the highest average SAT score in metro Atlanta at 1135 in 2002, compared to 850 at Towers the same year.

•  Schools with the highest percentage of HOPE-eligible students generally have the highest SAT averages. But there are exceptions. One school -- Southwest DeKalb High School -- stands out. Though 70 percent of students there qualified for HOPE in the 2001-2002 school year, the average SAT score that spring was 882 -- 93 points below the state average.

A closer look at Southwest DeKalb shows about a quarter of its graduates needed remedial courses in college. Most high schools with similar rates of HOPE-eligible students have far fewer graduates who need remedial classes.

• Among metro districts, a disproportionate number of DeKalb schools graduate large numbers of students who need remedial work in college. For example, at Lithonia High School 41 percent of graduates who landed at in-state public colleges in fall 2001 needed remedial courses. Yet two-thirds of the graduating class had high enough grades to qualify for HOPE.

•  DeKalb is not the only school system sending large numbers of kids who need remedial help to college. The Atlanta, Gwinnett, Fulton and Clayton school systems each had more than one school where at least 20 percent of graduates needed remedial courses in fall 2001. Some systems, such as Cobb and Fayette, had no schools with so many students needing remedial classes.

•  In some schools where most graduates qualify for HOPE, few are able to pass Advanced Placement exams. Students who take the challenging preparatory classes can earn college credit by scoring 3 or higher on an AP exam. At Washington High School in Atlanta, two-thirds of the 2002 graduates were eligible for HOPE. Yet not one of those students scored high enough on an AP exam to earn college credit.

A decade ago, HOPE's founder predicted the program would improve high schools by providing a cash incentive for good grades. Sen. Zell Miller, who launched HOPE when he was governor, said in 1996 that the scholarship was pushing high schools to improve.

"Public pressure is coming to bear on high schools statewide to turn out graduates who are better prepared for college," Miller said.

There's no evidence that has happened.

Minimum SAT proposed

With the number of HOPE-eligible students growing faster than lottery revenue, officials are scrutinizing the criteria for the scholarship program.

Gov. Sonny Perdue stirred up a furious debate and even charges of racism when he recently suggested adding a minimum SAT score to tighten the eligibility requirements for HOPE.

"The SAT provides a certain degree of parity for schools," Perdue said. "The one thing we will never be able to resolve in Georgia is that a certain grade in one school is [not] equal to that same grade in another school."

Many educators and civil rights activists oppose setting a minimum SAT score, saying it will shut out many low-income, African-American students who may score poorly on the test but still deserve a shot at college and at HOPE.

In Georgia, the average SAT score for African-American students is 852. For white students, the average is 1035. In Florida, civil rights activists have filed a complaint over the use of the SAT to determine scholarship eligibility.

Still, other states with HOPE-like scholarships have found ways to use standardized tests to compensate for the lack of consistent grading standards.

West Virginia requires at least 1000 on the SAT or the ACT equivalent in addition to a 3.0 GPA.

"That acts as a gatekeeper to guard against grade inflation," said Bob Morgenstern, executive director of the PROMISE scholarship program in West Virginia.

Choosing the easy road

Many principals admit that some students -- even HOPE scholars -- are unprepared for college. The educators blame relaxed grading.

Steven Miletto, principal at Osborne High School in Cobb County, is working with teachers this year on how they issue grades, something colleges of education do not teach well, he said.

Among the subjects he's tackling: the danger of giving too much credit for a project done at home (Mom or Dad could have done it) and term papers (they could be plagiarized from the Internet).

"We're talking about what are good and appropriate grading practices and showing the impact of bad grading practices on the student," Miletto said.

Principals who say inconsistent and overly generous grading doesn't exist aren't looking closely enough, he said.

In DeKalb, most high schools with track records of sending graduates straight to remedial courses have new principals who can't explain the problems of the past, officials say.

The new principals say they are trying to raise standards, doing things like standardizing exams for algebra courses. Also, they say they are trying to teach parents the importance of getting their children to take hard courses and prepare themselves for college.

"Parents really want their children to earn the HOPE," said Regina Merriwether, principal at Lithonia High School. "What good is the HOPE if they can't keep it? There are a lot of children choosing to take the easy road."

Recent graduates from DeKalb County high schools -- especially those from predominantly black south DeKalb -- say they are surprised when they get put in remedial classes in college.

Danika Harvey went to Savannah State University after graduating from Cedar Grove High School in 2001. Her results on an English placement test landed her in a remedial writing class. When she got to class, she recognized several students from DeKalb.

"There were a lot of us," she recalled. "I wondered, 'Why am I in this class?' I did OK in high school."

Her father, Hayward Lamar, was disappointed his daughter -- who he said worked hard for her good grades at Cedar Grove -- needed remedial work.

"They spent so much time preparing for tests, there was no time for quality education," Lamar said.

"So much preparation for the [Georgia High School Graduation Test], but did it actually sink in?"

HOPE -- with its promise of free tuition -- has made getting a B average more important than ever to parents and their college-bound children.

In the mid-1990s, metro Atlanta school officials were so worried about their students having an equal shot at HOPE that many lowered their grading scale, making an 80 the cutoff for a B rather than an 83 or 84. To avoid penalizing students from districts with tougher grading scales, HOPE officials set a statewide standard: 80 percent.

That standard has allowed thousands of kids with GPA's below 3.0 to be classified as having a B average, which qualifies them for HOPE.

Marietta High School counselor Russ Means said some students are shocked when he tells them their mediocre grades qualify them for HOPE. If actual GPA's were used in calculating HOPE eligibility, "it would have a huge impact," he said. HOPE officials agree.

The Board of Regents estimates that a third of HOPE scholars have a GPA below 3.0.

Grades 'transformed'

Honors courses are another source of inconsistency in metro Atlanta. Most districts add bonus points to some of their most difficult courses to motivate kids to take them and to reflect the extra work required. In some cases, the bonus points are enough to raise a student's grade in an honors class by a full letter grade, making a B in honors chemistry, for example, equal to an A in regular chemistry as far as a student's GPA is concerned.

Nancy Sutton, a Cherokee County parent whose son attends Etowah High School, disapproves of the five extra points the district adds to averages in honors courses. "Many times I've encouraged [my son] to put forth his best effort and I'm met with a shrug and the comment that although he has a B, it will be magically transformed into an A," she said. "I don't understand what they think they are teaching our kids by giving them grades they haven't earned."

Some school officials call such policies a "necessary evil," while others say it's only fair to lessen the risk to a student's GPA when class rankings and college scholarships like HOPE are at stake.

Entitled to HOPE?

Veteran teachers say the pressure to boost grades is not new. And they say HOPE is just one factor.

Some say today's high school students have a sense of entitlement not seen in previous generations. Students and their parents often do not see the HOPE scholarship as a merit award they have to earn.

Also, low school morale -- especially at low-performing urban and rural high schools -- has made ceremonies honoring students with good grades a feel-good rite of passage. Parents often desperately want their kids to be among those recognized. Teachers want to keep marginal students from giving up. All of that adds to the pressure to give students grades they may not have earned.

Simone Manning-Moon, a DeKalb County school board member, said she has studied the figures on students who needed remedial courses in college and has a "nagging assumption" grade inflation must exist.

"If that's so, we're a walking oxymoron," she said. "It's going to be impossible to have achievement and grade inflation at the same time."

- Staff writers Matt Kempner, James Salzer, Jen Sansbury and Maurice Tamman contributed to this story.