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Students are going to have to spend more time in the library once the changes to the HOPE scholarship are made. According to Cynthia Parks, director of financial aid, students will only be able to lose HOPE once.
There is still hope for the HOPE scholarship.
Despite rumors regarding the state of the HOPE scholarship, most students will still be able to attend school with little out-of-pocket costs.
According to Cynthia Parks, director of Financial Aid, the fall will bring some changes to the HOPE scholarship. The HOPE scholarship will no longer cover 100 percent of tuition. Instead, HOPE will only cover 90 percent and will no longer provide funds for books and fees.
“I do not perceive it is going to be a large impact for students,” Parks said. “They may want to plan on an increase of about $1,000 a semester more than what they are normally used to seeing, because that is going to compensate for the lose of books and the fee amount.”
Despite these cuts, there will be another new stipulation to the HOPE scholarship. According to Parks, students will only be able to lose HOPE once. In the past, students were able to lose and regain the scholarship several times. According to Parks, roughly 20 percent of the student body depends on the HOPE scholarship.
“Once parents and students sit down and take a look at the overall picture they will find that it is not going to be a major impact,” Parks said, “It is something that can be addressed and handled either by students getting a summer job and earning the extra money or cutting back on some of the expenses.”
Even with all the changes, administrators and faculty at Augusta State University do not predict a decrease in student enrollment. In fact, they predict the exact opposite effect will happen. According to President William A. Bloodworth Jr., the HOPE scholarship will likely increase the enrollment of Augusta State.
“There is no doubt that the HOPE scholarship program increased student mobility,” Bloodworth said.
According to Bloodworth, when the HOPE scholarship began, many students left home. The HOPE scholarship was established to give everyone the ability to receive a higher education Therese Rosier, Vice President for Business Operations said.
“(In the past) we were strictly a commuter institution,” Bloodworth said.
However, that may not be the case anymore. When the HOPE scholarship stops paying 100 percent of tuition, Bloodworth said he could see the enrollment rate rise at Augusta State. For the 14 years preceding the HOPE scholarship, Bloodworth figured that the mean of the students in the entire University System of Georgia attending Augusta State was 2.93 percent.
He figured if this number of students was currently enrolled at Augusta State the enrollment would be around 9,000 students. Currently the enrollment rate is 6,900. Therefore, students may find it more financially viable to attend Augusta State versus other colleges.
One thing Bloodworth said was that Augusta State is behind the curve when it comes to “things” that attract students to universities. Multiple sports complexes and flashy students centers is not what Augusta State can offer. However, according to Bloodworth, there is a major reason for this.
“We had to improve our educational facilities, this place way ugly,” Bloodworth said. “It was unsafe. So, we had to get rid of the six old buildings that were housing 75 percent of our classes. We had to build the Science Hall, Allgood Hall and University Hall. While we were doing that, other schools (were building) housing, students recreations centers, etc. and we were just trying to concentrate on building classrooms. So, we get behind the curve. If you go to Armstrong Atlantic in Savannah it is like you are going through an Olympic village.”
According to Bloodworth, other institutions, like Valdosta State, were able to take advantage of the students that were mobile.
Despite Bloodworth’s prediction, Bill Reese, professor in the Sociology, Criminal Justice and Social Work Department, said he feels as though this cut may have a negative impact on some students.
“You never know what the cut point is,” Reese said. “Some kids may just barely have enough money to go and that is with the HOPE and now they are just beneath it and they can’t go.”
Reese did agree that students who will no longer be able to receive HOPE; they will have to find a less expensive ways to earn a college education. Reese did express his concerns that if a student cannot receive a full tuition scholarship they may not be able to attend school at the same pace they would have.
“Anything that interferes with a kid going to school has decreased the chances that that kid will ever get a college degree, and that’s not good,” he said.
Yet, Parks said there are parts of Augusta State that will appeal to students and their wallets.
“I am sure that parents and students will be looking more at their finances once all this happens,” Parks said. “We do have a lower tuition rate right now than some of the larger institutions.”
Bloodworth seconded this idea stating that the cuts will have a greater effect on students who want to attend larger universities. He explained that Valdosta State charges its students $855 in mandatory fees and Augusta State charges much less. So, Bloodworth said the students, faculty and staff will have to wait and see if this is going to be a factor now for students. He said he believes the tuition sticker shock is going to be higher for students at research universities.
“These other schools were able to take advantage of this student mobility, and we weren’t,” he said.