Georgia Gov. Nathan DealATLANTA — Gov. Nathan Deal and legislative leaders have agreed on a plan to rescue Georgia’s cash-strapped HOPE scholarship that would cap the awards so they no longer rise as tuition does, effectively ending a 20-year-old audacious promise: free public college tuition to any student who earned a B average or better.
Deal plans to announce the plan Tuesday, Senate President Pro Tempore Tommie Williams told The Associated Press on Thursday. Williams said the plan includes cutting remedial courses out of the list of classes that the scholarship will pay for and scaling back the state’s lottery-funded free prekindergarten program for 4-year-olds.
“Everybody’s going to take a hit,” Williams said. “We’re spreading out the pain.”
Deal, who took office in January, has made clear that keeping the HOPE scholarship intact for a new generation of Georgians was a key priority, and his aides have been in a flurry of meetings in recent days with legislative leaders to hammer out a deal.
Deal’s spokesman, Brian Robinson, declined comment on the plan.