There’s a reason bureaucrats and others are offering up plans to cap the HOPE scholarship. The deficit is so large that no other change generates the amount of savings needed to realign the total lottery expenditures to about $881 million — the total amount transferred by the Lottery Corp. this year. But college provides a faster and higher return on investment than any other program. We ought to work to find a way to preserve this unique scholarship.
The HOPE program put Georgia on the map nationally because no other state had solved how to do what Georgia was doing with its lottery revenues — give every eligible student the opportunity to attend college tuition-free. Fees and book allowances were provided because there were sufficient funds to do so.
Here are some thoughts as policymakers begin to think through lottery changes. The issue deserves more than a quick solution that diminishes over time the one program that has differentiated Georgia from every other state.
1. Reprioritize the three major spending programs of the lottery revenues: HOPE (47 percent of lottery appropriations), pre-k (31 percent of lottery appropriations) and the HOPE grant, for technical schools (now at 18 percent of lottery appropriations). Keeping the lottery paying the full tuition of the HOPE scholarship should be the top priority.
2. Call on the Lottery Corp. to increase from 24 percent the amount remitted to the state. This percentage is a full 5 percent lower than the national average and out of line for similarly sized lotteries. Increasing the remittance 1 percent a year for five years could help meet new growth, assuming we solve the immediate shortfall up front.
3. Consider removing the sales tax exemption on lottery ticket sales. The lottery folks will claim this will hurt sales. But if sales have topped out anyway, maybe it doesn’t matter if sales drop a little. This may be worth $50-$150 million yearly.
4. Means test the HOPE grant at technical schools. Unlike the HOPE scholarship, there is no grade requirement or income limit to earn this grant, which covers 100 percent of tuition, fees and books. A college graduate can even attend a technical college and receive a 100 percent HOPE grant.
5. Means test the private pre-k program. If 53 percent of pre-k students are from families qualifying for federal or state aid, then the remaining 47 percent could presumably pay for classes on a sliding scale.
6. Consider moving the public pre-k program to the QBE formula and include it with other educational programs. Then a capital outlay program could become part of pre-k.
7. Raise the qualifying high school GPA for HOPE to 3.5 and the college GPA to 3.2. If HOPE truly means Helping Outstanding Students Educationally, raising the bar in order to keep full tuition is worth it.
8. Reinstate the Pell Grant offset which presently duplicates HOPE for some students.
9. Stop paying HOPE grants, intended for technical schools, to colleges and universities. I’m not sure how this occurs, but $9 million is spent this way.
10. Stop paying for remedial classes with HOPE, eliminate payment for fees and books, end second chances to regain HOPE and eliminate the $500 GED Grant.
All of these items might still not make up the shortfall. It still may require the decoupling of HOPE payments from tuition. But we should at least try everything else first. The number of college graduates coincides directly to the personal income growth of a state. Shouldn’t we do everything we can to keep HOPE meaningful for future generations?
State Sen. Jack Hill, R-Reidsville, is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
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