COMMISSION ACTIONS:

What Georgia's HOPE Scholarship Study Commission recommended and what it rejected:

RECOMMENDED:

• Eliminate HOPE scholarship funding for books effective August, 2004. Five-year savings: $362.2 million.
• Eliminate HOPE scholarship funding for college fees, effective August, 2004. Five-year savings: $465.2 million.
• Limit eligibility for technical school students to 95 quarter hours (63 semester hours), effective 2004. Five-year savings: $11 million.
• Limit eligibility for technical school programs to students who do not have a bachelor's degree, effective 2004. Five-year savings: $3.9 million.
• Implement a standard 3.0 grade point average for HOPE eligibility, effective 2007. Five-year savings: $105 million.
• Institute a yearly review of student grades to ensure HOPE scholars are keeping their "B" average. Currently, student grades are checked only at 30, 60 and 90 semester hours. The yearly check is to prevent students from taking a light course load and extending their college years.

NOT RECOMMENDED

• Withhold HOPE scholarship money from students who are required by their colleges to take remedial work.
• Encourage the development of a uniform grading system in high schools.
• Phase-out "add-on" scholarships (special scholarships for teachers, engineering students at Mercer University, dependents of public safety workers killed in the line of duty, students at Georgia Military College.)

ENDORSED

• A majority endorsed linking HOPE scholarship eligibility to a minimum SAT score, in addition to a "B" average, if necessary in the future to trim costs further.

-- The Associated Press