A common justification for HOPE-style merit-aid programs is to promote and reward academic achievement, thereby inducing greater investments in human capital. However, grade-based eligibility and retention rules encourage other behavioral responses. Using data extracted from the longitudinal records of all undergraduates who enrolled at the University of Georgia (UGA) between 1989 and 1997, we estimate the effects of HOPE on college GPA, course selection, and major choice, treating non-residents as a control group. First, we find that HOPE increased resident freshman GPA by 0.13 point, while its effect on GPA after the first year is weak. Second, HOPE reduced the number of credit hours completed in math and science core curriculum courses during the first year, and this effect persisted into the second at roughly the same magnitude. Over both years, the estimated program effects imply that residents completed about 1.2 fewer math and sciences credit hours. Finally, the likelihood that the average resident freshman would choose to major in Education jumped 1.2 percentage points relative to their out-of-state counterparts after HOPE was introduced and the scholarship's influence on this decision was more pronounced for women and whites.
We use cookies to provide you with an optimal website experience. This includes cookies that are necessary for the operation of the site as well as cookies that are only used for anonymous statistical purposes, for comfort settings or to display personalized content. You can decide for yourself which categories you want to allow. Please note that based on your settings, you may not be able to use all of the site's functions.
Cookie settings
These necessary cookies are required to activate the core functionality of the website. An opt-out from these technologies is not available.
In order to further improve our offer and our website, we collect anonymous data for statistics and analyses. With the help of these cookies we can, for example, determine the number of visitors and the effect of certain pages on our website and optimize our content.