Zell Miller Scholarship

Georgia residents seeking an associate degree may be eligible for the Zell Miller Scholarship. The Zell Miller Scholarship Program is a merit-based scholarship program with specific academic and grade point average eligibility requirements.

Beginning with the High School Graduating Class of 2011 and beyond, in order to meet the academic requirements of the Zell Miller Scholarship at the First-Tier a student must:

1. Graduate from and eligible high school as the Valedictorian or the Salutatorian: or
2. Graduate from and eligible high school with a minimum of 3.70 cumulative grade point average as calculated by Georgia Student Finance Commission; and

• Receive a minimum of 1200 combined critical reading and math on a single administration of the SAT on a test administration at the time of high school graduation; or
• Receive a composite scale score of 26 on a single administration of the ACT on a test administration at the time of high school graduation.

A student eligible for the HOPE Scholarship in 2007 or later, who was academically eligible for the Zell Miller Scholarship at the time of high school graduation, may gain Zell Miller Scholarship eligibility at the first-tier if the student had a minimum 3.30 GPA at his or her most recent checkpoint and meets all other eligibility requirements.

The Zell Miller Scholarship Program has established certain eligibility checkpoints. At these checkpoints the student must have a 3.30 cumulative GPA to renew the Zell Miller Scholarship. The first checkpoint occurs after the student has attempted 30 semester hours, and at the end of every spring term for full-time students or at the end of the first three enrolled terms if enrolled as a less than full-time student. The second eligibility checkpoint occurs after the student has attempted 60 semester hours, and at the end of each spring term. The third eligibility checkpoint occurs after the student has attempted 90 semester hours, and at the end of each spring term. The student can only regain the Zell Miller Scholarship one time before becoming permanently ineligible for the Zell Miller Scholarship.

The Zell Miller Scholarship pays the full standard-rate tuition. Learning support/remedial coursework is not eligible to receive Zell Miller Scholarship funding.

Students will become ineligible for Zell Miller Scholarship programs once the student has:

• Received payment from any combination of HOPE Scholarship, Zell Miller Scholarship, HOPE Grant, Zell Miller Grant and Accel Program (for Accel classes taken through Spring 2011) funds totaling 127 semester hours; or
• Attempted 127 semester hours of college degree credit, regardless of whether HOPE funds were received while attempting the hours; or
• Earned a baccalaureate (four-year) college degree, regardless of whether HOPE funds were received while earning the degree.