The Georgia Promise Scholarship application period starts March 1. However, only about 5.25% of eligible applicants would be assigned a scholarship account.
An Associated Press analysis of the the Georgia Education Savings Authority‘s (GESA) November 2024 Promise regulations found that nearly 400,000 students could choose to apply for Promise.
Promise offers $6,500 (minus administrative fees) per student to those residing in the bottom fourth of low-performing public schools’ attendance zones. The state determined the per student Promise amount by dividing the total amount of state K-12 spending ($14.1 billion) by the total number of public school students.
Georgia law limited the state to spending no more than 1% of the total K-12 spending, or about $141 million, on the Promise program, which means the state could provide funds to roughly 21,000 students who choose to apply.
The GESA Promise regulation that exponentially expanded eligibility after the Georgia Promise Scholarship Act was passed is section 4.1.4. It states a student is eligible if they are “domiciled in the attendance zone of a public school” included on the Georgia Promise Schools List.
The Promise Scholarship Program Family Handbook clarifies that families should “Check for ANY schools in the attendance zone you reside in (i.e., the elementary, middle, and high school).” The rules goes on to state that “a student does NOT need to be actively attending the school to be eligible.” The all-caps emphasis in the previous quotes is GESA’s.
By the rule, a ninth grader whose high school is not on the promise list could still be eligible to apply so long as their home is zoned for an elementary or middle school that is on the Promise list.
One limitation is that students need to be enrolled “at least two consecutive enrollment counts” in a public school. The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement and the Georgia Department of Education also refer to enrollment counts as Full-Time Equivalent counts which are collected twice a year–October and March. First-time kindergarten students and students of military families who recently moved to Georgia are excluded from the enrollment rule.
The regulations also detail the Student Application Selection Process, which says that returning students (after the first year) and siblings of returning students would receive first priorities if new applicants, and eventually returning students, exceeds available scholarship accounts.
Third priority is given to “students whose family income does not exceed 400% of the federal poverty level.” For a family of four, that means a combined income of $128,000 or less to be eligible.
Should applications for Promise accounts exceed available funds “students within the final consideration group(s) will be selected based on a random selection process,” which GESA has been tasked to develop if needed.
For the full Promise scholarship rules, regulations and resources, families should review mygeorgiapromise.org.
Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@gannett.com andJoeInTheKnow_SMN on Instagram or @JoeInTheKnowSMN at X.com.
