Keeping HOPE Alive: An Economic Analysis of Georgia's Lottery-funded Scholarship Program

9986469康威尔1993年9月，佐治亚州设立了当时唯一的由彩票资助的大学奖学金计划，名为HOPE(帮助优秀学生接受教育)。该奖学金支付佐治亚州公民在州立大学就读的全部学杂费和书费，以及向在州立私立机构就读的格鲁吉亚人支付的同等价值的固定付款。自成立以来，已向超过42万名学生发放了超过7.5亿美元的希望奖学金。该计划的受欢迎程度导致其他州也采纳了类似的建议，克林顿总统将佐治亚州的HOPE奖学金指定为联邦HOPE学费税收抵免的典范。1998年阿拉巴马州和南卡罗来纳州州长选举的决定性问题是是否设立佐治亚州式的奖学金。学生是否有资格获得希望完全取决于他们的成绩，而且没有收入限制。要符合资格，高中生必须以“B”的平均成绩毕业。一旦进入大学，学生必须保持“B”的平均水平，并有最低学分才能保留该奖项。这些特点，加上它的总体规模和范围，使格鲁吉亚的希望奖学金成为近几十年来最重要的教育改革之一。HOPE符合提供越来越多的择优资助的国家趋势，因此提供了一个独特的机会来了解基于择优的经济援助计划如何影响高等教育。该项目对关于HOPE的三个问题进行了严格的实证分析，这些问题侧重于对奖学金的行为反应：HOPE如何影响大学入学决定？失去希望如何改变中学后的结果？希望如何改变了学生在大学生涯中的行为？每一期都会带来许多重要的政策影响。

9986469CornwellIn September 1993, Georgia instituted its then unique lottery-funded college scholarship program called HOPE ("Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally"). The scholarship pays the entire tuition, fees and book expenses of Georgia citizens who attend state universities and a comparably-valued fixed payment to Georgians attending in-state private institutions. Since its inception, over $750 million of HOPE scholarship aid has been distributed to over 420,000 students. The program's popularity has led other states to adopt similar proposals, and President Clinton designated Georgia's HOPE Scholarship as the model for the federal HOPE tuition tax credit. The defining issue of the 1998 Alabama and South Carolina gubernatorial elections was whether to institute a Georgia style scholarship. Students qualify for HOPE entirely on the basis of merit and there are no income restrictions. To become eligible, a high-school student must graduate with a "B" average. Once in college, the student must maintain a "B" average with a minimum number of credits to retain the award. These features, along with its overall size and scope, make Georgia's HOPE Scholarship one of the most important educational reforms in recent decades. HOPE fits into the national trend of offering increasing shares of merit-based aid and therefore affords a unique opportunity to learn how merit-based financial aid programs impact higher education.The project provides a rigorous empirical analysis of three questions about HOPE that focus on behavioral responses to the scholarship: How does HOPE affect decisions to enroll in college? How does losing HOPE change postsecondary outcomes? How has HOPE changed students' behaviors during their college careers? Each issue introduces many important policy implications.