Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally – it’s what HOPE stands for, but what it really means for many students across the state is a chance to go to college.

Twenty-five to 30 percent of lottery revenues go toward funding the HOPE Scholarship. But in tough economic times, when the state’s residents are tightening their belts and not spending disposable income on lottery tickets, what will happen to HOPE?

“Right now we are dealing with tuition increases and the monies that are going into the HOPE reserves fund from the lottery,” said Monet Robinson, communications specialist for the Georgia Student Finance Commission, in a phone interview Monday. “Eventually those lines are going to cross and so the legislature has passed [a House bill].”

Robinson said the House bill will cut the book allowance in half, to $150 annually, for all students receiving HOPE, with the exception of those receiving the Pell Grant.

“It’s not immediate, but it’s definitely coming,” she said. “It may be taking effect in 2011.”

Since its inception in 1993, the HOPE Scholarship has provided $2.9 billion in tuition assistance for almost half a million Georgia students – all funded by the state lottery.

“In 2008 we were able to give out $460 million worth of funds to over 200,000 students,” Robinson said.

From 1993 to 2008 the number of HOPE recipients in the state increased 373 percent, from 42,797 to 202,494 recipients. The amount spent on HOPE has skyrocketed, from $21.4 million in awards in the 1993-94 academic year, to $460 million for the 2007-08 academic year.

The state lottery is one of the most successful in the country, with more than $960 million in reserve accounts. But the economy has prompted the legislature to look at cut backs in areas of HOPE allotments, such as the $300 annual book allowance.

Robinson said she has no concerns that HOPE will not make it through.

“[Students] are not going to lose HOPE,” she said. “In the future there may be mandatory fees or the book allowance may go away, but tuition will be paid for.”

But Robinson also suggested that students look at other financial aid options in addition to HOPE.

“[Students] need to speak with their financial aid office and see what else is out there,” she said. “Don’t be hopeless and don’t give up. There is money out there.”

Neighboring states with similar lottery funded tuition scholarships report the economy has not negatively affected their ability to provide tuition assistance.

HOPE in Tennessee

Georgia was one of the first states to institute a lottery-funded tuition scholarship and has served as the benchmark for many other states that have adopted such programs.

Bonnie Yegidis, vice president for academic affairs at The University of Tennessee, said Tennessee’s HOPE Scholarship is similar to Georgia’s in most ways.

“It’s very similar, because really Georgia was the first state to put together that program,” she said in a phone interview Thursday. “So they don’t really differ very much, except for GPA requirements – but that’s a recent change.”

Yegidis, a member of the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation, said there have been no restrictions or cuts in Tennessee’s HOPE Scholarship as a result of the economy, and the program has been extended recently to non-traditional learners.

“[The legislature] is trying to expand the HOPE offering to older students and students in the workforce,” she said. “There has been very strong support for the HOPE Scholarship in Tennessee, even though the economy has been in a downturn.”

In fact, within the last year the state lowered the required GPA from 3.0 to 2.75 to help students maintain the scholarship, Yegidis said.

The scholarship has had a favorable effect for Tennessee colleges and universities, according to Yegidis, who said it has “really kept students who would have normally gone out of state in Tennessee schools.”

Florida’s Bright Futures Scholarship

Another neighboring state with a lottery-funded tuition scholarship is Florida. Its Bright Futures Scholarship program is similar to Georgia and Tennessee’s HOPE scholarships. The two-tier scholarship program covers 100 percent of tuition for students with an A-average and 75 percent of tuition for students with a B-average, said Bill Edmonds, director of communications for the Florida Board of Governors.

Edmonds said lottery revenues in Florida have not had substantial growth, but are not in decline and the program has not instituted cutbacks.

“We’re not really having the same kinds of pressures that you’re having in Georgia,” Edmonds told The Red & Black in a phone interview Monday.

Dan Cohen-Vogel, assistant vice chancellor for institutional research at the Florida Board of Governors, said lottery revenues have been flattening for the last couple of years.

“It may be partly due to the economy,” Cohen-Vogel said in a phone interview Monday. “It also tends to happen with more mature lotteries in general. It is probably a little bit of both.”

Last year the Florida legislature passed a bill that gave universities permission to impose a technology fee in fall 2009, which could be up to 5 percent of tuition. The fee is not covered under the Bright Futures Scholarship.

Another issue in the Florida legislature is that of differential tuition, a practice of setting individual university tuition higher than state-set tuition. Last year five universities were granted permission to set differential tuition, but that could increase to all 11 of the state’s public universities, according to a report by the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald.

“[Differential tuition] wouldn’t change Bright Futures,” Edmonds said. “It would not be covered by the scholarship, but [Bright Futures] would still continue.”

Edmonds said Florida, like other states, is dealing with the economic downturn, but the Bright Futures Scholarship is not in jeopardy.