Clough unveils Tech Promise program

Low-income Georgia residents will no longer be priced out of a quality education from Tech when the new Tech Promise program is launched this fall, permitting undergraduate students whose families have an annual income under $30,000 to graduate debt-free.

"We wanted to focus on those students who are most at risk," said Institute President Wayne Clough.

Tech Promise will specifically tailor financial aid packages for each of the projected 400 eligible recipients, supplementing the HOPE scholarship and the student's other financial aid with a combination of other scholarships, grants and job opportunities. The package will cover the total published cost of attendance, which includes tuition, mandatory student fees, books, room and board and personal expenses.

"The students would already have the HOPE scholarship, the Pell grant and a work-study program. We would be covering the difference to make sure the students remain debt free," Clough said.

To qualify for the program, besides falling under the $30,000 annual income level, students must be legal Georgia residents pursuing their first undergraduate degree and must be eligible for federal student financial aid. For tax purposes, they must be dependents whose parents are eligible to file an IRS Form 1040A or 1040EZ for the most recent tax year.

Academically, students must maintain a 2.0 GPA and must remain in good standing with the Institute, as well as maintaining satisfactory academic progress standards. The program will last for up to four years (eight semesters) of full-time enrollment.

The $30,000 income figure was selected based on available financial resources and an evaluation of the needs of current Georgia students, and the Institute says it may possibly open the program to more students in the future by increasing the income limit and offering it to non-Georgia residents.

"The number is not a hard number. I can fluctuate it depending on a family's need, such as number of kids they have in college," Clough said.

The stated goals of the program are to make Tech more accessible to Georgia residents while increasing the economic diversity of the student population, as well as helping the nearly half of HOPE scholarship recipients at Tech who lose it after their freshman year.

"Georgia Tech has a long tradition of providing access to young Georgians through low tuition rates and one of the world's oldest and largest voluntary cooperative education programs, which enables students to gain valuable job experience while working their way through school," Clough said.

According to Clough, the new programs will be used as a recruiting tool, especially to students in inner-city and rural areas.

"This new financial aid program provides yet another tool to help us remain true to our long-term commitment to open doors of opportunity to all qualified students, especially those from financially disadvantaged families who may be reluctant to apply because of the daunting financial burden attending college will place on their families," Clough said.

The estimated $2 million required to fund the initial year of Tech Promise will be provided by the Georgia Tech Foundation and will come from private philanthropy. The Institute has an endowment goal of $50 million for the program.

Tech Promise is the first program of its kind at a Georgia public university, though private Emory University began earlier this month offering a similar program to its students.

Named Emory Advantage, it replaces need-based loans with grants for students from families with $50,000 or less in annual income and, for students from families between $50,001 and $100,000 in annual income, caps loans at $15,000 for the duration of the student's undergraduate education.