In Georgia, there is a program going on that helps out the student immensely. The Georgia State Lottery is used as a device to send hard-working students to college for free. Since the start of the lottery, over 488,00 kids have gone to college on the HOPE scholarship due to the lottery (Message from the President 1). Also, the lottery helps pay for pre-kindergarten facilities and programs, as well as computer and technology upgrades for their high schools through the HOPE foundation. North Carolina needs to take a serious look at the revenue Georgia brings from its lottery and think how it could be beneficial for North Carolina students.
First, the lottery helps out a tremendous amount of students through the HOPE program. The way that the Hope scholarship works is that all Georgia high school students that graduates with a ‘B’ average or higher becomes eligible to receive a grant to help cover the cost of tuition, book, and mandatory fees at any public Georgia college or university and a $3,000 dollar scholarship to any private college (Educational Uses of Lottery Proceeds 1). Also, they will provide full tuition, books, and fees to any technical institute in the state of Georgia. That sounds like a whole lot of incentive for young adults to make a ‘B’ average in school. I just don’t understand why North Carolina does not have the same incentive for our children. To keep the college student a good student, you must also keep a ‘B’ average in college to keep your scholarship. Georgia has given more than 1 billion dollars toward college bound students since 1993 (HOPE scholarship 1). North Carolina has no programs of this sort. Two years after starting college, HOPE recipients have a higher G.P.A. (grade point average), and have earned more credit hours than their counterparts who do not have the HOPE scholarship according to The Council For School Performance (Council for School Performance 1).
Second, the Georgia Lottery helps the pre-kindergarten children out by donating money to start new programs to give them a head start in school. There is a department that directs all the money into the pre-kindergarten areas of schooling called the Office of School Readiness or OSR. This is a one-stop children’s preschool department specifically authorized to administer the Georgia Lottery Pre-Kindergarten Program. The OSR is responsible for licensing 941 child care learning centers for small children and providing meals for children through the United States Department of Agriculture Children’s Food Program (OSR 1). This kind of pre-schooling could be very helpful in North Carolina. If I had a child, I know that I would want them to have the best education possible, no matter what age they were. This program is designed to give children a head start they will need to compete in today’s dog-eat-dog world. I hate to say it, but North Carolina is falling behind other states in education.
The last project that the HOPE program involves itself in is the elementary, middle school, and high school technology situation. The funds taken from the lottery for this program are used for instructional technology, which consists of computer hardware and software, automation of media centers, satellite dishes and/or networking. Also, these funds are used towards technology centers for training teachers and administrators in how to incorporate technology into the curriculum and providing technology and media specialists to support this advanced technology in the schools (Educational Uses of Lottery Proceeds 1). This program also makes it possible for all libraries, schools, and other state institutions of learning to have internet service lines. They even use some funds to put up fences, lighting, and surveillance cameras to make Georgia’s school’s safer for its children.
