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

1993年9月，乔治亚州设立了当时独一无二的彩票资助的大学奖学金项目HOPE（“在教育上帮助优秀学生”）。该奖学金支付就读州立大学的格鲁吉亚公民的全部学费、杂费和书本费，并向就读州内私立机构的格鲁吉亚公民支付同等数额的固定费用。自成立以来，超过7.5亿美元的HOPE奖学金援助已分发给超过42万名学生。该计划的受欢迎程度导致其他州也采取了类似的建议，克林顿总统指定乔治亚州的HOPE奖学金作为联邦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要设立佐治亚式的奖学金。学生有资格获得HOPE完全基于成绩，没有收入限制。要获得资格，高中学生必须以平均成绩“B”毕业。一旦进入大学，学生必须保持“B”的平均成绩和最低学分数才能保留该奖项。这些特点，加上它的总体规模和范围，使格鲁吉亚的HOPE奖学金成为近几十年来最重要的教育改革之一。HOPE符合全国提供越来越多的基于成绩的资助的趋势，因此提供了一个独特的机会来了解基于成绩的经济援助项目如何影响高等教育。该项目对HOPE的三个问题进行了严格的实证分析，这些问题关注的是对奖学金的行为反应：HOPE如何影响大学入学的决定？失去希望会如何改变高等教育的结果？HOPE是如何改变学生在大学生涯中的行为的？每个问题都引入了许多重要的政策含义。

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.