Understanding the College HOPE GPA (STEM Directory)

The HOPE GPA calculation is used as part of the academic eligibility for the HOPE Scholarship and the Zell Miller Scholarship.

Students may check their academic eligibility, including their postsecondary calculated HOPE GPA, by creating and signing in to their GAfutures account and selecting My College HOPE Profile.

Courses

All degree level courses taken after high school graduation or equivalent and corresponding grades, are counted towards the attempted postsecondary HOPE Hours.

The Eligible Colleges and Universities submit the transcript data for their students including courses taken at previous colleges. 

Note: Your institutional GPA may differ from the calculated HOPE GPA.

The postsecondary calculated HOPE GPA includes courses and grades received even if the course/hours:

• Were not paid by the HOPE Scholarship
• Were taken at an unaccredited institution
• Were taken at an institution outside of Georgia
• Were repeated, taken more than once
• Were forgiven by your institution

Grades

The postsecondary HOPE GPA is calculated on a traditional 4.0 scale, where an "A" equals 4.0, "B" equals 3.0, "C" equals 2.0, "D" equals 1.0, and "F" equals 0 and is calculated to two decimal places and does not allow for any rounding. 

The calculation includes attempted postsecondary HOPE GPA hours from all courses for which a grade of “A”, “B”, “C”, “D”, and “F” is recorded. Grades with no quality points such as withdrawals (W) incompletes (I) are not included in the postsecondary HOPE GPA calculation.

Note: There is not a separate scale for grades that include a plus (+) or minus (-), example “B-“ equals 3.0.  

STEM Weighted Courses & Directory

The STEM Weighted Course Directory lists the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses, taken Fall term 2017 or later, that have been approved for weighting at Eligible Colleges and Universities. When calculating the postsecondary HOPE GPA, the calculation will include an additional weight of 0.5 to grades of “B”, “C” and “D” in the approved STEM courses. Grades of “A” and “F” do not qualify for the additional STEM weight.

Note: STEM courses taken through dual credit enrollment (Dual Enrollment) do not receive an additional 0.5 weight for the class to determine their HOPE Scholarship GPA at the college level because the course was taken while in high school.

Example Postsecondary HOPE GPA Calculation: 

Course Name	Attempted/Credit Hours	HOPE GPA Hours	Grade Received	STEM Weight	Grade Value	Quality Points
ENG 1101	3	3	C+	N/A	2	6
BIOL 1108	4	4	B	0.5	3.5	14
MATH 1101	3	3	B	N/A	3	9
ART 1103	2	2	A-	N/A	4	8
SCI 1500	3	0	W	N/A	N/A	N/A
Total:	15	12				37

Term Calculation: 37 / 12 = 3.08 HOPE GPA

• The Grade Value multiplied by the number of HOPE GPA Hours equals the number of Quality Points (Only grades of A-F earn quality points)
• The Total Quality Points divided by the number of total GPA Hours equals the Grade Point Average (GPA)

HOPE GPA and Checkpoints

The HOPE Scholarship requires a student to maintain a minimum 3.0 calculated HOPE GPA at designated checkpoints. Credit hours earned by examination or coursework taken prior to high school graduation or home study completion cannot be included in the checkpoint calculation.

The Zell Miller Scholarship requires a student to maintain a minimum 3.3 calculated HOPE GPA at designated checkpoints. Credit hours earned by examination or coursework taken prior to high school graduation or home study completion cannot be included in the checkpoint calculation.

Note: Review the Academic Eligibility in College section for information on regaining academic eligibility at a Checkpoint

*Students must meet all eligibility requirements to qualify for the Scholarship.