NEWS RELEASE

May 09, 2001

Alma Bowen 770-724-9018

Georgia No. 1 in student financial aid fourth year in row
80.81 percent of undergraduate students receive grants and scholarships

      Georgia is ranked No. 1 in the nation for student aid not based on family income for the fourth consecutive year. Georgia also is No. 1 in estimated grant dollars to individual undergraduates and No. 1 on the percentage of undergraduates receiving state-financed grants and scholarships for education beyond high school.

      The rankings, which are for the 1999-2000 academic year, are reported in the 31st annual survey of the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs (NASSGAP). The No. 1 status is attributed to Georgia's HOPE Scholarship program, which is funded by the Georgia Lottery for Education.

      Georgia awarded $240.5 million in non-family income based aid to students, and the next state was Florida with $180.7 million.

      The average full-time undergraduate in Georgia received $1,342.90 in 1999-2000, while the national average per student is $548.28. The second and third states in the ranking were New Jersey, $1,168.88, and Illinois, $1,106.79. Fifteen states distributed more than $500 per student compared to 11 states in the previous year. Fourteen states distributed an amount less than $100 per student, and Alaska and South Dakota continued to report no state aid for students.

      The national survey report shows that 80.81 percent of Georgia's undergraduate students received state-financed grants and scholarships to attend the state's public and private colleges and universities in the 1999-2000 year. The second and third states were Kentucky with 50.16 percent and New Mexico with 48.60 percent.

      Beginning this fall, Georgia will have new needs-based grants for postsecondary students, an award that will supplement the federal Pell Grant for students from families with low income. The needs-based grant, LEAP (Leveraged Educational Assistance Partnership), was recommended by Gov. Roy Barnes and passed by the General Assembly.

      "Georgia continues to do more than any other state in merit-based scholarships to make a college or technical education available and affordable to all Georgia students and their families. We are pleased to remain No. 1, and we are pleased that the new LEAP program will help those students who still need assistance after HOPE and Pell," said Glenn Newsome, executive director of the Georgia Student Finance Commission, which administers the state's HOPE Scholarship Program and other financial aid to students.

      In fiscal 2000, the Georgia Student Finance Commission distributed more than $547.4 million in total financial assistance through 240,138 separate awards. Individual programs helping students attend a college, university or technical college ranged from small to very large - from the privately funded Charles McDaniel Teacher Scholarship Program with three recipients to HOPE Scholarships which had 148,414 recipients. Some of the other programs and the number of students assisted were: