On HOPE (and why it doesn't really offer any)
24 Dec 2008 - Conyers
The Georgia public university system has a specialized state scholarship program (known as HOPE) that is generally recognized as being just the best-thing-since-peanut-butter. I happen to disagree with the notion. You know what that means -- time to vent on my blog.
The requirements for HOPE are pretty simple, and don't even seem all that hard at face value: maintain a 3.0 GPA in high school, and for the duration of your college career, and the state of Georgia will pay for a significant portion of your college (read: tuition + book money) education. Sounds like a good deal. Even looks like one. In this case, it's not actually a duck though. Just attempting to beguile us by pretending it is.
The first problem with the HOPE scholarship is that it demands that students, by defintion, perform significantly better than what is defined as the academic average, a 2.0 GPA. Were this a private scholarship rather than a public one, this would be perfectly acceptable; however, given that it is in fact a public scholarship, this begs the question why performing at an average level, or indeed anywhere between an average and whatever-a-3.0-means-you-are level, is not good enough for a scholarship with the goal of helping Georgia students get ahead. If you're going to be a public service, then why design the system with a sort of exclusivity in the first place? There's obviously a concern about whether taxpayer money is being spent appropriately. Okay, that's fine. It's a legitimate argument. But that still doesn't account for why performing at an average level isn't considered acceptable. Either HOPE's demands are off, or the grading scale is. I think it's the former.
The other inherent problem with HOPE is that it operates under the assumption that college and high school are pretty much the same. Only an idiot would really feel that way. High school is far, far easier on so many levels. If someone actually said to me "Well, you know, college is just as easy as high school," I'd either be asking them which community college they're attending or laughing my ass off.
But wait, it's that first case I was getting at.
The problem created by the two previously mentioned problems (problems built on other problems for jeebus' sake!) is a simple one: if you want to maintain that lovely bit of financial assistance that the state of Georgia so graciously gives to you, you're better off picking an easier school. I see it all the time. There are plenty of kids going to Georgia State University, or GCSU, or Georgia Southern who could well be going to UGA or Georgia Tech (the latter being my own school) but refuse to do so because they're afraid they might actually perform closer to the average level and lose their financial aid. Sure, maybe a few of them could manage a 3.0 at say, Tech, if they skimp out entirely on the "college experience", but statistically speaking, the strong majority of them won't.
Rather than compelling a new generation to push boundaries, HOPE's holding them back. It's for this reason that we Techies recite one of our many mottos: "Welcome to Georgia Tech, where your best isn't good enough since 1885." Doesn't leave much room for hope for HOPE, does it?