Georgia
Difficulties with HOPE Scholarships
In April 1998, Georgia Governor Zell Miller signed into law House Bill 1556 extending the Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally (HOPE) scholarship program to home school students. This program pays tuition and book expenses for eligible students to attend public and private colleges in Georgia.
However, the Georgia Student Finance Commission, which administers the HOPE scholarship program, has recently taken the position that entering freshmen college students with a general educational development (GED) equivalency diploma are not eligible for a HOPE scholarship. This position is contrary to the express language of Sections 20-3-519.2 and 20-3-519.3 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated setting forth the eligibility requirements for the scholarships. These statutory provisions enacted by the Georgia General Assembly in 1998 state that an “entering freshman student” who has not graduated from high school or completed a home study program meets the achievement standards for the scholarship by “having received the general educational development (GED) equivalency diploma awarded by the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education after June 30, 1993.” (See the May/June 1998 Court Report.)
The Georgia Student Finance Commission bases its position on the provisions of Section 20-3-519.6 of the Georgia Code which authorize HOPE GED vouchers in the amount of $500 to students receiving a GED. These vouchers are valid to defray costs of tuition and fees at any eligible college in Georgia for 24 months after receiving the GED. This provision of the law states that a student receiving a HOPE GED voucher is eligible for a HOPE scholarship as a sophomore, junior, or senior student. Reading the language of the code sections together, it appears that students with a GED who elect to receive the voucher are not eligible for the scholarship until their sophomore year in college.
Unfortunately, the Student Finance Commission has interpreted the law not to permit an entering freshman with a GED certificate to choose between the voucher and the scholarship, saying that these students are only eligible for the voucher as entering freshmen. Further, the commission says that these students are not eligible for the scholarship at all until their sophomore year. This position cannot be reconciled with the eligibility provisions of Sections 20-3-519.2 and 20-3-519.3.
Home school students who are relying upon a GED certificate to obtain the HOPE scholarship can expect to encounter difficulties with the Georgia Student Finance Commission under its current erroneous interpretation of the law. Until this difficulty is resolved, home school students seeking a HOPE scholarship should complete a home study program under Georgia law to be sure that they are eligible for the scholarship during all four years of college. Unfortunately, these students must wait until the end of a successful freshman year to retroactively receive the scholarship.
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Georgia
The sculpture begun by Gutzon Borglum in 1916 on the side of Stone Mountain was so grand that Borglum once hosted 20 guests at breakfast on the shoulder of the Robert E. Lee carving. The work was later destroyed to make way for a smaller monument.
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