The Georgia HOPE Scholarship

Abstract

In 1992, Georgia unveiled the HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) program, a merit-based scholarship for state residents funded entirely through a state lottery. Since then, the immense popularity of the program has induced many states to try and capture Georgia s success with their own lottery-funded scholarship program. While billed a success, there remain several questions about the effectiveness of the HOPE program. This article examines HOPE’s impact and asserts that the program may not prove to be the unqualified success that many proponents claim.