HOPE money important

Inside March 11, 2003's Issue

-Editorials-

Editor's Box

War Babies Cartoon

HOPE money important

If it were not for the HOPE scholarship many students that attend college now would not be in school.

The price of college has become so expensive that for many students it is nearly impossible to afford without some sort of scholarship, grant or loan.

Yet, recently Georgia legislators have been considering cutting back on the funds that go towards HOPE and other University System of Georgia (USG) programs.

This would mean less money for each student attending or planning to attend college.

This cannot happen because too many students rely on HOPE to pay for college. If students lose HOPE funds, or receive less money from HOPE, eventually fewer students will be attending college.

Students from technical, public and private colleges are all able to take advantage of the HOPE scholarship, which means practically everyone with a "B" average is able to attend the college of their choice in Georgia with the aid of HOPE

According to the HOPE website http://www.gsfc.org/HOPE, in the recent 2001-2002 fiscal year there were 196,002 students in Georgia receiving the HOPE scholarship, which averaged out to be around $323 million going towards helping students pay for college.

This is already a huge increase from the 1993-1994 fiscal year, which only saw 42,807 students taking advantage of HOPE, averaging to around $21.4 million.

According to the statistics on the HOPE website, HOPE has helped a lot of students attend college. The percentage of students taking advantage of HOPE has increased greatly over the past couple of years.

This shows a higher increase in college enrollment due to the fact that students have HOPE to make college affordable.

So before the legislators make a tremendous mistake and cut back on funding for HOPE, they need to re-consider the lack of education that people will obtain from avoiding college due to the fear of debt.

They need to realize that without HOPE, many individuals will be stuck in the world without an education higher than a high school diploma. In this day and age that does not give a person much opportunity at achieving whatever his or her dreams and goals may be.