UGA Recruitment Winds Down

[DoctorD]

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

All the mentions of the Hope Scholarships throughout these threads got me curious so I did some googling -- the numbers on this page are impressive in terms of # awarded & $ awarded, but I'm wondering if anyone can explain the huge drop in scholarships awarded from 2007-2008 to 2008-2009? Is it because they are awarded throughout the year so the numbers will eventually get to the six figures as in previous years? Anyone in GA know? https://www.gsfc.org/gsfcnew/sandg_facts.cfm?GUID=

I believe that is the case. Many students do not have money yet for this academic year, and students often "lose Hope" [that always cracks me up for some reason] if their grades fall below the required minimum. The academic year has just started, so I'm betting that the number will rise as the year progresses, and that amount reflects summer payments thus far.

My somewhat educated opinion, for what it's worth.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

All the mentions of the Hope Scholarships throughout these threads got me curious so I did some googling -- the numbers on this page are impressive in terms of # awarded & $ awarded, but I'm wondering if anyone can explain the huge drop in scholarships awarded from 2007-2008 to 2008-2009? Is it because they are awarded throughout the year so the numbers will eventually get to the six figures as in previous years? Anyone in GA know? https://www.gsfc.org/gsfcnew/sandg_facts.cfm?GUID=

Originally Posted by DoctorD

I believe that is the case. Many students do not have money yet for this academic year, and students often "lose Hope" [that always cracks me up for some reason] if their grades fall below the required minimum. The academic year has just started, so I'm betting that the number will rise as the year progresses, and that amount reflects summer payments thus far.

My somewhat educated opinion, for what it's worth.

I agree that mainly it just doesn't reflect the awards to students for this this fall yet.

I think this actually kicked in a few years ago, but there was also a dip in HOPE grants awarded straight out of high school because the qualifying criteria switched from being an B average that student could meet by having an 80 or above on a percentage grade system to a true 3.0 GPA. I think there were a lot of kids who had 80 averages in high schools whose true GPA was more like a 2.5 because they had half 75 ish grades and half 85-ish grades.

[NUBlue&Blue]

There was a big change in how it was calculated beginning with last year's senior class. First, they only use your core classes, so you don't get a bonus from that 100 in weight training or honors lunch, and if you failed a class and took it again, the failed grade doesn't get dropped like it used to. Secondly, they used to award a full point for AP or IB classes; now you only get .5 and nothing extra for an A (so the highest you can get is 4.0, even for AP Calculus BC...sucks!). So your school's GPA may be 4.5, but your HOPE GPA would only be 4.0. Our school tells the kids to figure that their HOPE GPA is probably about .5 below their school GPA, so if you have a 3.0 on your report card, chances are you won't have a high enough GPA to get HOPE.

And keeping it is another story altogether. My kids go to Tech. Not exactly generous on the grading scale there (although I always say that it makes sense if you don't want your airplanes falling from the sky or your bridges collapsing). No. 1 daughter is graduating in May and kept it all four years--she can't lose it because she won't come under review again.

Probably more information than anybody wanted.

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I agree that mainly it just doesn't reflect the awards to students for this this fall yet.

I think this actually kicked in a few years ago, but there was also a dip in HOPE grants awarded straight out of high school because the qualifying criteria switched from being an B average that student could meet by having an 80 or above on a percentage grade system to a true 3.0 GPA. I think there were a lot of kids who had 80 averages in high schools whose true GPA was more like a 2.5 because they had half 75 ish grades and half 85-ish grades.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by NUBlue&Blue

There was a big change in how it was calculated beginning with last year's senior class. First, they only use your core classes, so you don't get a bonus from that 100 in weight training or honors lunch, and if you failed a class and took it again, the failed grade doesn't get dropped like it used to. Secondly, they used to award a full point for AP or IB classes; now you only get .5 and nothing extra for an A (so the highest you can get is 4.0, even for AP Calculus BC...sucks!). So your school's GPA may be 4.5, but your HOPE GPA would only be 4.0. Our school tells the kids to figure that their HOPE GPA is probably about .5 below their school GPA, so if you have a 3.0 on your report card, chances are you won't have a high enough GPA to get HOPE.

And keeping it is another story altogether. My kids go to Tech. Not exactly generous on the grading scale there (although I always say that it makes sense if you don't want your airplanes falling from the sky or your bridges collapsing). No. 1 daughter is graduating in May and kept it all four years--she can't lose it because she won't come under review again.

Probably more information than anybody wanted.

http://www.gsfc.org/main/publishing/...script_faq.pdf

Did the HOPE folks always give the 1 point or only in 2006?

I thought the issue before was that each school system rewarded IB and AP (and gifted and honors) its own way and HOPE treated that "rewarded" grade as the real grade.
The kids in my district got points added to their percentage grade in the class before they were submitted to the HOPE folks, but I didn't think they didn't got anything added by HOPE.

So the HOPE folks standardized with the .5. (They take off whatever is added locally and use the same for everyone.) I have no idea but I though maybe the reference to grades before 2006 getting a full point might be to try to accommodate those systems that gave the kids more credit for AP. It was never presented to our kids like HOPE was cutting back on what they previously awarded. It's interesting to hear about how other schools handle it and what they tell the kids.

But you are completely correct that the recalculated grades probably contributed to a drop in eligibility.

[peaches321]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

http://www.gsfc.org/main/publishing/...script_faq.pdf

Did the HOPE folks always give the 1 point or only in 2006?

I thought the issue before was that each school system rewarded IB and AP (and gifted and honors) its own way and HOPE treated that "rewarded" grade as the real grade.
The kids in my district got points added to their percentage grade in the class before they were submitted to the HOPE folks, but I didn't think they didn't got anything added by HOPE.

So the HOPE folks standardized with the .5. (They take off whatever is added locally and use the same for everyone.) I have no idea but I though maybe the reference to grades before 2006 getting a full point might be to try to accommodate those systems that gave the kids more credit for AP. It was never presented to our kids like HOPE was cutting back on what they previously awarded. It's interesting to hear about how other schools handle it and what they tell the kids.

But you are completely correct that the recalculated grades probably contributed to a drop in eligibility.

Once a student graduates from a Georgia high school, the final transcript is sent in for Hope calculation. Any weighting done by the school district is thrown out. Here's the link to the information. http://www.gacollege411.org/FinAid/S...alculation.pdf And whoever said that this whole thing was redone as of the class of 2007 was correct. Prior to that, it was a more generous calcuation.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by peaches321

Once a student graduates from a Georgia high school, the final transcript is sent in for Hope calculation. Any weighting done by the school district is thrown out. Here's the link to the information. http://www.gacollege411.org/FinAid/S...alculation.pdf And whoever said that this whole thing was redone as of the class of 2007 was correct. Prior to that, it was a more generous calcuation.

According to the sheet that you linked, how generous it was depended on the district and no doubt some were much more generous. That's why I was so curious about the full point that NUBlueandBlue mentioned. I never heard about that before her post, but it's mentioned for 2006 at the link I posted. Who knew?

[Adopt-a-Lab-GA]

Hi, I realize this is off the subject of the last post. However, it goes back to something stated earlier in this thread. I was just wondering if anyone has gotten stats for UGA chapters...chapter total, quota, number of new members pledged to each chapter.