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Perhaps this is abnormal, but I found it was totally possible to go to college in the US debt-free if you 1) Do well in high school, 2) Are willing to go to an

Perhaps this is abnormal, but I found it was totally possible to go to college in the US debt-free if you 1) Do well in high school, 2) Are willing to go to an in-state school, and 3) Don't mind working part time. Dozens of my friends in my senior highschool class went on to do just that. Good grades got them at least a partial in-state scholarship. Then some part time work (often just in the summer) made up the difference. The tuition was fairly low because they stayed in-state. This was in Florida and Georgia in the early 2000's. Have things really changed that much? Or maybe those states were just an anomaly. Frankly, I think in many ways college is overrated. However, getting a degree with minimal debt in a field with good job prospects still seems like a great option. However, spending big money to study at a "top" school in a field with average job prospects seems like a poor financial decision. It is a shame such a major financial decision is made when people are so young.

pa5tabear 12y ago
I just met with a local State Representative in Oregon and he was talking about Georgia as an example of a state with good higher education funding- he said any student with a B average or better would receive free college. Is this true? Or is the funding situation good? He thinks Oregon is not good for higher education funding.
mgibbs63 12y ago
The HOPE Scholarship (the Georgia in-state scholarship program) still exists, but since the early 2000's, it has become considerably harder to qualify for. It used to be as easy as graduating from a public high school in Georgia with a 3.0 GPA, and would cover all your tuition, up to 15 credit hours per semester. Once you were in college, I don't believe there were even any GPA requirements. Today, I think you need a 3.7 GPA to qualify. EDIT: Looks like you still just need a 3.0, but there are additional 'academic rigor' requirements on the high school courses you take. It was a spectacular bargain (and still is, but to fewer students), and paid for my degree at Georgia Tech, which is a pretty good school. The system is funded by lottery revenue, though, which brings up some thorny issues. The majority of people who buy lottery tickets are working class, but the majority of HOPE recipients are upper-middle class - effectively a bizarre reverse-welfare program. In most other states, similar programs don't exist, and even students who are willing to stay in-state and work while they go to school end up with some student debt.

pa5tabear 12y ago

I just met with a local State Representative in Oregon and he was talking about Georgia as an example of a state with good higher education funding- he said any student with a B average or better would receive free college. Is this true? Or is the funding situation good? He thinks Oregon is not good for higher education funding.

mgibbs63 12y ago

The HOPE Scholarship (the Georgia in-state scholarship program) still exists, but since the early 2000's, it has become considerably harder to qualify for. It used to be as easy as graduating from a public high school in Georgia with a 3.0 GPA, and would cover all your tuition, up to 15 credit hours per semester. Once you were in college, I don't believe there were even any GPA requirements. Today, I think you need a 3.7 GPA to qualify. EDIT: Looks like you still just need a 3.0, but there are additional 'academic rigor' requirements on the high school courses you take. It was a spectacular bargain (and still is, but to fewer students), and paid for my degree at Georgia Tech, which is a pretty good school. The system is funded by lottery revenue, though, which brings up some thorny issues. The majority of people who buy lottery tickets are working class, but the majority of HOPE recipients are upper-middle class - effectively a bizarre reverse-welfare program. In most other states, similar programs don't exist, and even students who are willing to stay in-state and work while they go to school end up with some student debt.