The requirements for receiving HOPE scholarship, which has been helping Georgia students pay for higher education since 1993, have changed several times recently.
What are the new HOPE requirements?
The current GPA requirement for a high school student to be eligible for HOPE scholarship is to have a HOPE Grade Point Average of at least 3.00 on a 4.0 scale. However, the HOPE GPA is calculated differently than the GPA that appears on a student's report card.
The first step in calculating a student's HOPE GPA is to take all of the grades from the student's core classes (English, Math, Science, and Social Studies,) as well as foreign language, and equate each letter grade to a point on the GPA scale. A letter grade of "A" equals a 4.00 on the scale, a "B" 3.00, a "C" 2.00, a "D" 1.00, and an "F" 0.00.
Any weight added by the school for International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement or Dual Enrollment classes is removed prior to calculation. Elective courses do not count as part of the HOPE GPA.
Once each letter grade has been converted to GPA points, a standard 0.5 point weight is added to each AP, Dual Enrolment, or International Baccalaureate classes, up to the maximum possible 4.00 grade.
Once all individual class grades have been converted to the GPA scale, they are averaged together to produce the final HOPE GPA.
Starting with the graduating class of 2015, students will need to satisfy a requirement for "academic rigor." This requirement can be satisfied by taking AP classes, advanced math courses, advanced science courses, Dual Enrolment core classes, International Baccalaureate core classes, or advanced foreign language classes.
Members of the graduating class of 2015 must take two academic rigor classes, while members of the class of 2016 must take three, and the graduating class of 2017 must take four to be eligible.
To be considered for a HOPE scholarship, students must complete either a GSFAPPS, (filled out and submitted online through the Georgia Student Finance Commission) a paper HOPE Scholarship and Grant Application (Available from the Georgia Student Finance Commission website GACollege411.org, or through a high school counselor) or a current year FAFSA (available at fafsa.ed.gov, or Gacollege411.org)