Georgia Proposes Needs-Based College Aid Program Using Lottery Reserves
Georgia is one of only two states nationwide without needs-based financial aid for students who can’t afford college.
A state Senate study committee released a report Tuesday. It calls for a needs-based aid program for college students. There's about $1.7 billion sitting in unrestricted reserves from the Georgia Lottery. Lawmakers return to Atlanta for the 2026 legislative session in just one month.
Georgia is one of only two states nationwide without needs-based financial aid for students who can't afford college. The committee's report suggests copying programs that work in North Carolina and Florida.
"This is about affordability, and about opening doors," said Sen. Nan Orrock, the Atlanta Democrat who chaired the state Senate Study Committee on Higher Education Affordability, according to the Georgia Recorder. "Swing wide the doors of higher education, post-secondary programs, that will launch young people into successful lives and (they will) stay here in Georgia, and help to continue to build Georgia into the place that we know it can be, but affordability is absolutely the issue."
Students must have a high school diploma or its equivalent. They'd need to enroll in an eligible public university or technical college. A completed FAFSA application is required, and they must meet federal Pell Grant requirements showing strong financial need, plus satisfy minimum academic standards.
The Georgia Student Finance Commission would manage the program. This group already runs the merit-based HOPE Scholarship. Awards depend on how many classes a student takes.
Ashley Young from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute crunched the numbers. About $126 million in lottery funds could provide grants for just over 98,000 students in the 2026-2027 school year. Student loan borrowers here carry the second-highest average balance nationwide at $42,300, per data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
State Sen. Max Burns, a Sylvania Republican and chairman of the Senate Higher Education Committee, voiced doubts about tapping lottery dollars. "I don't think you take funds or resources away from a successful program to fund something that you need, but have not yet developed a comprehensive way to address that," Burns said.
Burns wasn't optimistic about progress during the coming session, which falls during an election year. The funding could arrive through direct appropriation each year or through an endowment.
