[ReignOfError]

In Florida and Georgia you can get free tuition for 4 years at a state university (if you’re a state resident), but it is merit based, not needs based. In Florida it’s paid for by money from the lottery. Qualification for the scholarship is based on your SAT/ACT score and GPA, then you have to keep a 3.0 GPA to maintain the scholarship.

I assume your summary of the Florida law is accurate, but Georgia's Hope Scholarship is based on "merit" only in that it has minimum requirements. Tuition at state schools is free if you graduate from a Georgia high school; test scores are not considered. Once in school, you do have to maintain a 3.0. It is not merit-based in that someone with a 4.0 high school GPA does not have any advantage over someone with a 4.0.

Of course, automatic free tuition does not mean automatic admission; you still have to get in. The result has been higher admission standards throughout the system. Students who would once have applied to Georgia as a safety school are now looking at West Georgia or Georgia Southern, with a fair number of them transferring to UGA later.

[Dawn531]

Interesting, thanks for the info. I have a friend whose kids used the Hope, and I knew they had to maintain a certain grade point in college, so I assumed it was merit based. Here’s the info on the Bright Futures.

http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/SSFAD/bf/fasrequire.htm