Gov.’s Scholarship Program was eliminated from budget
The state is notifying some of its top students that a four-year scholarship designed to entice them to attend college in Georgia has been wiped out.
The Governor’s Scholarship Program, a precursor to the state’s popular HOPE scholarship, was quietly eliminated in the budget lawmakers passed April 3 on the final day of the 2009 session.
Within a week of the vote, the Student Finance Commission began notifying about 1,500 students that they wouldn’t get the aid next fall.
Students and parents had no idea the money wouldn’t be coming.
“I was kind of shocked when I heard about it,” said Joey Krumpach, 19, a freshman at Georgia Gwinnett College who received the scholarship this year after being valedictorian of his high school.
Steven Longo, a Lawrenceville project manager whose daughter Julie receives the scholarship, said the award was supposed to be for four years.
“I think they are sending a bad message,” Longo said.
The Governor’s Scholarship was started in the mid-1980s as an incentive to keep Georgia’s top students from leaving the state to attend college.
It goes to valedictorians and other top students. At its peak in the 1990s about 3,000 students were getting more than $4.5 million in awards.
However, the program has been whittled back, and the state spent only about $1.3 million this year. For most students, it amounted to $900.
Governor’s Scholarship recipients also get HOPE scholarships, which pay their tuition and provide book and fee money. The Governor’s Scholarship helped pay for room and board and other expenses.
Tim Connell, president of the Georgia Student Finance Commission, questioned whether the scholarship was keeping top students in Georgia.
Connell recalled the annual ceremony Gov. Sonny Perdue has at the Governor’s Mansion for top students. When the students were asked where they planned to attend school, Connell said about 40 percent indicated they were heading out of state.
“It kind of brought into question what was the purpose of the scholarship,” he said. “$900 is probably not having a significant effect on decision making. It’s not enough to say, ‘Instead of going to Harvard or going to Vanderbilt or going to Duke, I am going to the University of Georgia.’
“It’s probably became more of an ‘attaboy’ for valedictorians.”
Krumpach, who is taking technology classes at Georgia Gwinnett, said the scholarship did help persuade him to stay in Georgia. “It was the best education for the money,” he said.
In the midst of a fiscal crisis that forced massive budget cuts, Perdue recommended the program be eliminated and the Legislature obliged. Rep. Kathy Ashe (D-Atlanta), a former teacher and member of the House Education Committee, said she didn’t realize the program had been eliminated until someone sent her a copy of the Student Finance Commission letter being mailed to students.
She said the state made commitments to the scholars.
“We need to make it a priority to reward these deserving students and keep them in the state,” she said. “I think it’s one of those places where priorities become very clear.”
Democrats have argued that Perdue and the Republican majority haven’t made spending on education a priority. However, K-12 education took a smaller budget hit this year than almost any other area in the budget.
Bert Brantley, the governor’s spokesman, said many top students are already getting a number of other scholarships, including HOPE.
“When you’re looking for things to cut back on, you’re looking for what has the most benefit,” he said. “For a lot of kids, this is just over and above what they are already spending on tuition and books.”
Labels: eliminated, Georgia, hope scholarship
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Brian Vanderhoff @ 10:27 AM
