Georgia Lawmakers Agree To Pay Students' College Tuition & Here's How You Could Get A Free Ride
Teachers could also see a boost in pay. 💰
Georgia State Capitol. Right: Graduates.
Georgia lawmakers agreed to a budget for the 2024 Fiscal Year that includes plans to pay full tuition for Georgia students attending college in the Peach State. However, not every student is qualified for a free ride to achieve a degree.
The plan is only for Georgia high school graduates and HOPE Scholarship recipients. In order to receive the scholarship, you need a 3.0 GPA collected from your core classes — English, math, science, social studies and a foreign language — and at least four academic rigor requirement credits completed.
According to AP News, the Peach State's General Assembly met Wednesday to sign off on it. The budget process has reached phase five out of seven, which means it will now come to Governor Brian Kemp's desk to officially pass the plans into law.
The Governor has 40 days to do so or it will be grandfathered into Georgia's legislation automatically.
He is likely to sign this into law, as his proposed budget states:
"To ensure scholarship and grant levels are keeping pace with increased tuition costs, the [Fiscal Year] 2024 budget includes an additional $61.2 million to fully fund scholarship and grant awards at 100 percent of tuition at all Georgia public higher education institutions."
He continues to draft that full-time students will save an average $444/year.
The new budget is a total of $32.5 billion dollars and $2.5 billion of that total is allotted for "Tuition and Fees for Higher Education," which means there's leftover money for employees in the industry. This will boost teachers' pay, such as a $2,000 cost of living adjustment and salary increase.
If this new budget is approved, it will go into effect on July 1.