Ga. House Approves Lower Eligibility Requirements for HOPE Grant

The Georgia House overwhelmingly passed a bill Thursday aimed at helping more technical college students afford school. The measure lowers the eligibility requirements for the HOPE Grant.

The bill passed 169 to 1.  The measure lowers the GPA eligibility requirement from a 3.0 to a 2.0. If approved by the Senate, the change would return to the requirements that existed before overhauls to the program in 2011. Democratic Representative Stacey Evans was one of the driving forces behind the bill.

“Most students that attend our technical colleges are from families with household incomes of less than $40,000 and many of them with household incomes of much less than $40,000, so the ability of them to get the grant now even with a 2.8, or a 2.5, or a 2.3, will allow more students to go college and allow them to recognize the dream of being part of the middle class.”