A series of dramatic changes proposed Thursday to ensure the future of HOPE scholarships would make them harder for many to get, tougher to keep, and would increase the expense of going to college for all HOPE scholars.

Students would have to obtain a 3.0 grade point average to earn the scholarship, would no longer get money for books and fees and would be checked up on more often in college to make sure they still qualify for HOPE.

Those are the principal, final recommendations put forth Thursday by a state commission charged with finding ways to preserve the decade-old scholarship program funded by the Georgia lottery.

The commission's recommendations could save nearly $1 billion over the next five years, according to state estimates, and keep the program in the black into the next decade.

The panel, made up of legislators, parents, students and educators, did not support the return of an income cap for HOPE recipients. However, they did leave the door open to a proposal by Gov. Sonny Perdue to require high school students to obtain an unspecified minimum SAT score to earn a full HOPE scholarship.

Fourteen of the 20 commission members listed an SAT requirement for HOPE scholars as their top option if more cost savings are needed in the future.

"This shows there is some support for the idea on the commission," said Sen. Bill Hamrick (R-Douglasville), the panel's co-chairman. However, the SAT plan was not included in the formal recommendations because the commission has been split on the issue.

Both the commission's recommendations and Perdue's SAT proposal are expected to be included in proposed legislation the General Assembly will consider when it convenes in January. The commission decided Thursday it will meet once more, next month, to review the final recommendations.

Legislative leaders on Thursday praised the commission's work.

"Looking at the alternatives proposed, it looks like these are some of the least painful, and they do accomplish the job," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Stephens (R-Canton).

House Majority Leader Jimmy Skipper (D-Americus) said, "The commission has worked long and hard on this and I believe their recommendations will be a foundation from which we can proceed to keep HOPE solvent for a long time to come."

If changes aren't made, HOPE and Georgia's lottery-funded, free pre-kindergarten program are projected to begin dipping into financial reserves in the 2006-07 budget year. And the programs would sink $434 million into debt two years later, according to state projections.

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

Under the commission's recommendations:

• HOPE would stop paying for books and fees, starting fall 2004. That would save about $125 million in fiscal 2005, which begins July 1. Over the next five years, it would save more than $800 million.

• A HOPE scholar's grades would be checked at the end of the spring semester to see if the student has maintained the B average necessary to keep the scholarship. Currently, students aren't checked on until they have accumulated 30 college credits.

• The 3.0 GPA standard used by colleges for a B average would also be used to decide whether high school students have the grades necessary to get a HOPE scholarship.

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis showed standards for a B average vary widely from high school to high school in Georgia.

Both 80 percent and a 3.0 GPA are generally defined as a B average. But a 3.0 is mathematically harder to achieve, because it limits how much one high grade can pull up a report card studded with C's.

About a third of HOPE scholars entering Georgia's public universities do not have a standard 3.0 GPA, according to state Board of Regents estimates.

The HOPE commission opposed shutting off the scholarships to students who need to do remedial work when they arrive at college. Commission members argued that would unfairly punish students who made the grades in high school without knowing that they weren't getting the education they needed for college.

Commission members weren't expected to consider Perdue's SAT proposal again, but the governor's office lobbied to have it brought up Thursday.

There was no consensus on the idea when it was raised last month in a commission meeting. Some argued that it would add an incentive for high-schoolers to do well on the test, while others said it would make thousands of students ineligible for HOPE if an SAT component was added.

The governor had not previously put a number to his proposal. But as presented Thursday, it would require a minimum 900 SAT, along with the 3.0 grade average, for a full HOPE scholarship.

Those who didn't score at least 900 but had the GPA would get HOPE for one semester of college. If they had a B average for the initial semester, they'd keep the scholarship. If not, they'd lose it.

A 900 SAT out of a possible 1600 is 84 points below the state average and 126 below the national average. Georgia's state average ranks 50th among the 50 states and Washington, D.C.

State figures suggest if a 1000 SAT score had been included in HOPE requirements in fall 2000, about two-thirds of African-American college freshmen who earned the scholarship and a third of whites would not have been eligible. But officials said 1000 was too high a standard for HOPE.

"In the real world, you just cannot eliminate the number of students a 1000 SAT would eliminate," Hamrick said.

Perdue's proposal was listed by the commission as first among four other options to be considered if the state needs to find more financial savings in the program.

Derrick Dickey, a spokesman for the governor, said the administration was pleased with the decision to include the SAT option.

"The governor is for the SAT-HOPE link. We'll wait to see the commission's recommendations before we come in and draft our own legislation," Dickey said.

-- Staff writer Rhonda Cook contributed to this article.