HOPE Scholarship

HOPE Scholarship

The HOPE Scholarship - Requirements

  1. Graduate from a HOPE-eligible high school with a minimum 3.0 GPA as calculated by Georgia Student Finance Commission.

  2. Be enrolled as a degree-seeking student at a public or private HOPE-eligible college or university in Georgia.

  3. Meet academic rigor requirements. Beginning with students graduating from an eligible high school on or after May 1, 2015, students must complete a specific number of academically rigorous courses, as identified on the Academic Rigor Course List, in addition to meeting the GPA requirements

Click here for a list HOPE Rigor Courses offered at WCHS

Please note that the HOPE GPA is calculated by the GSFC, not WCHS or White County School System. The GSFC uses a CORE (academic only) GPA, and removes weighting for Honors and AP classes. They do add .5 weight back to AP and Dual Enrollment classes, but nothing is weighted above a 4.0. Read more below.

By law, HOPE GPA is not rounded.

For a complete list of eligibility requirements and more information about HOPE, please visit the HOPE Scholarship page on the GAFutures website.


Zell Miller Scholarship - Requirements

  1. Graduate from an eligible high school with a minimum 3.7 grade point average (as calculated by GSFC) combined with a minimum score of 1200 on the math and reading portions of the SAT test or a minimum composite score of 26 on the ACT test in a single national test administration and meet all HOPE Scholarship eligibility requirements.

  2. Be enrolled as a degree-seeking student at a Zell Miller eligible college or university in Georgia.

  3. Meet academic rigor requirements. Beginning with students graduating from high school on or after May 1, 2015, students must complete a specific number of academically rigorous courses, as identified on the Academic Rigor Course List, in addition to meeting the GPA requirement.

    For a complete list of eligibility requirements and more information about the Zell Miller Scholarship, please visit the Zell Miller page on the GAFutures website.

Zell Miller Scholarship


How the HOPE GPA is Calculated:

This information is from the GA Futures Website. To read more, click here.

High School HOPE Scholarship GPA includes only grades earned in the core subjects of English, mathematics, science, social studies and foreign language.

All grades earned for attempted coursework in the core subjects during the student's 9th through 12th grade years that could be used to satisfy a core curriculum graduation requirement, according to the GA DoE, is equated to a grade on a 4.0 scale, where an "A" equals 4.0, "B" equals 3.0, "C" equals 2.0, "D" equals 1.0, and "F" equals 0.

From that core coursework, any weighting added by the high school is removed, then half a point (0.5) is added back to Advanced Placement (AP), and Dual Enrollment (DE) degree-level core course grades of B, C, D, and F only. Honors course work is not weighted.

HOPE GPA can not exceed a 4.0 so ff a student earns an A in an AP or DE course, the grade will remain a 4.0.

How to Check Your HOPE GPA

You can start to check your HOPE after your first semester of 9th grade, as long as you have a GA Futures account. WCHS counselors usually help students create their GA Futures accounts sometime during the 9th grade. If you are in 10th grade and above and need help logging in, you can contact your school counselor. In order to check your HOPE GPA, your GAFutures profile has to be complete including your social security number.

Once you login to your account and your profile is complete, you can click on the tab on the left that says My High School HOPE GPA.

Your My High School HOPE GPA page includes your student information, your HOPE GPA as calculated by GSFC based on transcripts sent by your Georgia high school, rigor credits, ACT/SAT scores if you've taken them, and more information about the eligibility requirements of the HOPE and Zell Miller