A House committee voted last week to table legislation that would create a need-based version of Georgia’s HOPE scholarship. But state Sen. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, was able to revive the bill.
“I think this is an opportunity for the Board of Regents,” Millar said in an interview earlier this week. “They can now do need-based aid. We’re the only state in the South that does not have that.”
Millar attached the guts of the stalled Senate Bill 405 to House Bill 787, which increases funding for state-approved charter schools. The Senate approved the legislation Tuesday. The House OK’d it Thursday night.
SB 405 ran into trouble during a House higher education committee hearing. Unlike the current HOPE scholarship, which is merit based, the bill would have established need-based financial aid for public college students. To qualify, a student’s family couldn’t make more than $48,000 a year. The student would need to have a grade point average between 2.3 and 2.9. The program would pay eligible students $1,500 a semester. The legislation also requires recipients to work a minimum of 15 hours a week.
Georgia and New Hampshire are the only two states that don’t offer need-based financial aid to college students.
