The HOPE Scholarship is sure to be a hotly debated issue in this year’s elections, so we’re uniting to make one central suggestion: Why not abolish the Zell Miller Scholarship? The days of a true “full ride” are gone anyway, as the Zell doesn’t cover fees either. Holding on to a faded promise reduces funds available to other HOPE recipients—and creates a widening gap between those who receive full tuition and those who don’t. Given the SAT’s undeniable correlation with family income, it is not an appropriate benchmark for disbursing public funds—even for a merit-based scholarship. Let’s cut our losses quickly, before the Zell starts eating up a disproportionate amount of the GSFC’s budget.
HOPE Scholarship: The cons: Did the legislature’s 2011 reforms ruin HOPE?
HOPE Scholarship: The pros: The program has surpassed its goals. So why are people complaining?
HOPE Scholarship by the numbers: The story explained in graphs
This article originally appeared in our January 2014 issue.