HOPE requirements change

Contrary to popular belief, the HOPE scholarship can be extended through five years of college, according to Jocelynn Hogg, associate director of financial aid.Malorie Thompson, manager of client relations in financial aid, said, "It has always been five years of enrollment since the first scholarship was issued years ago."

Assuming GPA requirements are met, a student can keep the HOPE scholarship until the end of their fifth calendar year or until graduation, whichever comes first.

Thompson, said, "As far as the HOPE scholarship goes, there were terminating factors; one, they could attempt only 120 [hours] or they could receive the HOPE scholarship for up to 120 Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship hours. They have eliminated this requirement as of fall 2008.

"It gets a little confusing," Thompson said, "at one point you have 72 hours and you are counted as a junior, but you have to have a 3.0 GPA to get [the scholarship] or even keep [the scholarship]."

Thompson said the GPA requirement has been changed and students can now have a 2.75 cumulative Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship GPA. Students' semester GPA must remain a 3.0 to keep the scholarship.

Students must also be enrolled full time to keep [the scholarship], Hogg said.

Thompson said: "We now have more students who have [the HOPE scholarship] instead of those who lose it. Since the GPA dropped down to 2.75 we have more students, which is obviously really good."

According to Thompson, there are approximately 189 students receiving aid for their fifth year of college currently.

Thompson said that in addition to the scholarship's GPA requirements, mandatory HOPE scholarship informational meetings are still scheduled for the end of each semester.

At the meeting the financial aid department will answer questions students have about the HOPE scholarship and provide information on rules and regulations.

Tiffany Parnell, a Chattanooga senior said, "I've known I was going to be a fifth year senior since I'm double majoring, but the fifth year option has definitely been a financial relief.