Ga. House passes bill capping HOPE hours

On Tuesday, the Georgia House of Representatives voted to pass a bill limiting the number of attempted credit hours HOPE will cover. The bill will now be considered in the Senate.

The legislation, if passed by the Senate, would put the limit for any student at 127 attempted credit hours. That decision would mean that students enrolled in a degree program requiring more than 127 credit hours may not receive HOPE funding for the portion of the hours above the cap. According to an AJC estimate, there are at least 2,000 students at Tech enrolled in such programs.

However, the AJC reported that according to Representative Chuck Martin, most students would receive a grace period of one semester ' s worth of additional HOPE funding beyond the hour cap.

This measure is not included in the legislation, but according to Martin, is a common practice of the commission that administers HOPE.

The changes, if passed, would not affect students currently on HOPE. However, they would apply for all students enrolling next fall.

Current HOPE regulations, as specified under Georgia Code 20-3-519.2, state that " A student enrolled in an undergraduate degree program designed to be more than ...127 semester hours in length is eligible to receive the HOPE scholarship for the lesser of: (A) A total of...150 attempted semester hours; or (B) The number of hours required for graduation if the student has a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0... "