HB 385: Education; allow academically successful students who are concurrently seeking certain degrees to use the full number of hours of HOPE scholarship eligibility; provisions

Under current Georgia law, a student's HOPE scholarship (the state's merit-based tuition assistance program) generally ends once the student earns a bachelor's or first professional degree. This bill changes that cutoff for two groups of academically successful students: those who are working on a bachelor's degree and a first professional degree (like law or medicine) at the same time, and those who start a graduate program within 18 months of finishing their bachelor's degree. Both groups could keep using their full remaining HOPE scholarship hours as long as they continue to meet HOPE's academic achievement standards. The bill also adds a limit for students who took advantage of Georgia's dual enrollment program (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-161.3), which lets high schoolers take college courses paid for with state funds. For those students, the number of scholarship hours available for a first professional degree would be reduced by the number of dual enrollment course hours the state already paid for. The changes would take effect July 1, 2026, and apply starting with the 2027-2028 academic year.

• Removes the automatic cutoff of HOPE scholarship eligibility for students earning a bachelor's degree and a first professional degree at the same time, as long as they keep meeting HOPE's academic standards.
• Extends HOPE scholarship eligibility to students who start a graduate program within 18 months of earning their bachelor's degree, provided they keep meeting HOPE's academic standards.
• Reduces the HOPE scholarship hours available for a first professional degree by the number of course hours a student already used through the state-funded dual enrollment program.
• Sets the changes to take effect July 1, 2026, applying beginning with the 2027-2028 academic year.

Georgia college students receiving the HOPE scholarship, particularly high-achieving students pursuing combined bachelor's and first professional degrees (such as pre-law or pre-med tracks) or moving quickly into graduate school, as well as former dual enrollment participants and the Georgia Student Finance Commission, which administers the program.

Students who currently lose HOPE funding once they finish a bachelor's degree, even if immediately continuing into a professional or graduate program, could keep receiving scholarship money for those additional years of study, easing the financial burden of advanced degrees for academically strong students.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 20-3-519.2(d) to add an exception allowing continued HOPE eligibility for students concurrently pursuing a bachelor's degree and a first professional degree who keep meeting achievement standards.
• Section 1 also extends eligibility to students who begin a graduate program within 18 months of earning their bachelor's degree, as long as they continue meeting the achievement standards.
• Section 1 reduces the number of first professional degree HOPE hours available by the number of hours a student already received through state-funded dual enrollment courses.
• Section 2 sets the effective date as July 1, 2026, applying starting with the 2027-2028 academic year.
• Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-02-25Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2026-02-24House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
3. 2026-02-24House Third Readers (House)
4. 2026-02-12House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
5. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
6. 2025-02-27House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
7. 2025-02-13House Second Readers (House)
8. 2025-02-12House First Readers (House)

• Scott Holcomb (D, HD-101)Primary sponsor
• Carter Barrett (R, HD-024)

1. PassedHouse voteFebruary 24, 2026

   160 yea, 2 nay (3 not voting, 12 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #549

• HOPE scholarship
• college financial aid
• higher education
• dual enrollment
• graduate school funding