If you give something, you get something. Keeping it, however, is a lot more difficult than getting it. As a result, keeping HOPE has become a top goal of many undergraduates here. About 4,500 out of the campus's 31,000 students sought tutoring last semester, up 16 percent from the fall of 1999. And in just the last three years, the number of students taking study-skills courses has jumped nearly 70 percent, to about 1,600 this academic year.
Students receive a grade in the course that counts toward their overall average.
Twelve of the 19 students in the class were HOPE scholars. So far, she's just a hair below the B average needed to keep her scholarship. In a way, HOPE is like a parent. Many professors here criticize the number of students who matriculate not knowing how to study. They were spoon-fed in high school.