HOPE, Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally, is awarded for scholastic achievement and is set up to work as an incentive to continue working hard in school, according to officials of the HOPE Scholarship Program. If students fall below a 3.0 cumulative grade point average after attempting 45 hours in a public college, they may continue their sophomore year at their own expense. According to officials of the HOPE Scholarship Program, HOPE is Georgia's unique scholarship program that rewards students' hard work with financial assistance in degree, diploma or certificate programs at any eligible Georgia public or private college, university or public institute. Since the program began in 1993, more than 235,000 Georgians have benefited from this program funded by the Georgia Lottery for Education. The expansion of the HOPE scholarship program in the new state budget reduces its review schedule by one year, giving students an earlier second chance at the grant.
HOPE is also available to students already in public college or returning to public college.
The proposed reflecting pool on campus was the primary issue of concern at the Young Democrats meeting Wednesday evening. The Young Democrats, along with a group of other concerned students, discussed methods of protesting the pools construction. According to the administration, the pool is being built to regulate the flow of water and to make the campus more attractive. If the pool is built, the main entrance to the university may be changed from Sweetheart Circle to the Akins Boulevard entrance. A petition to save the wetland has already been drafted.