HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally) is Georgia's lottery-funded merit scholarship. Graduates of an accredited Georgia (or eligible out-of-state) high school qualify with a minimum 3.0 calculated HOPE GPA plus 4 rigor-course credits; no test score is required on this path (graduates of ineligible/unaccredited programs instead need a 24 ACT or 1160 SAT). It pays a per-credit-hour rate toward tuition, set annually by GSFC, covering up to 15 hours/term at public institutions and 12 at private institutions, for Fall 2026-Summer 2027 terms; exact dollar figures are available through GSFC's interactive per-institution lookup tool rather than a single published number. Renewal requires a 3.0 cumulative college GPA at 30/60/90 attempted-hour checkpoints.
Eligibility
DemographicsRequires Georgia residency and enrollment at a HOPE-eligible Georgia institution, a 3.0 calculated HOPE GPA plus 4 full rigor credits from the Academic Rigor Course List (for accredited high school grads), and graduation from an accredited high school (out-of-state/homeschool grads submit academic evaluation documents). A 10-year eligibility window applies from first receipt
Applying
Pays a per-credit-hour rate set annually by GSFC, up to 15 hours/term at public institutions and 12 hours/term at private institutions, covering Fall 2026-Summer 2027 terms; exact dollar figures require GSFC's interactive per-institution lookup tool rather than a single published number