<p>An academic unweighted 3.0 GPA can be very different depending on the high school. South Georgia isn’t known for their academics. In my high school, a 3.0 is <em>not</em> given to you. You have to earn your grades. It is much easier to get a 3.0 if one takes all college prep courses than if one takes AP/Honors classes. When they calculate HOPE, there is no added weight for AP classes. I personally think there should be a required amount of honors or AP one has to take to receive HOPE. I know a lot of my friends would love to go out of state, but they’re not going to because who would pass up a free education? </p>
<p>After UGA and Tech, Georgia’s state schools aren’t that great. There is a huge gap after the two flagships. GCSU is a pretty good school, but Kennesaw, Southern & State aren’t that hard to get into. I have friends who go to the above schools and they didn’t take many honors classes at all. I am only considering GCSU and UGA. If you hate math and science, Tech isn’t a viable option. I do know many peers are starting to go to schools in Alabama and are getting pretty good scholarships. In my school, even if top students get denied to UGA they still end up instate. If they take away Hope, people may start going out of state and UGA may have to attract more OOS students. Being instate or out of state for UGA does not give an advantage right now. Also, if they take away HOPE many families won’t be able to afford tuition. Yes, tuition will be “low” but the low income students still couldn’t require it. I would make the GPA requirement a 3.2 and require more AP/Honors classes. However, most students who receive HOPE aren’t going to UGA or Tech. UGA has gotten a lot harder to get into the past few years. A lot of my African American friends aren’t interested in UGA because of the low diversity as a whole.</p>