General Eligibility Requirements

Who can receive federal and state financial aid?

• United States citizens or eligible non-citizens
• Accepted for admission to an approved program at Georgia Highlands College
• Making Satisfactory Academic Progress for Financial Aid
• No defaulted student loans
• Do not owe a refund for any federal or state aid
• Have a valid Social Security Number
• Males must be registered for selective service by the age of 18. You may check your registration status by clicking the following link: Verify a Selective Service Registration If you need to register with Selective Service you may do so at: Register Online
• In case of a drug conviction, complete a drug worksheet to determine eligibility: Drug Worksheet
• Students in Mini-Certificate programs of less than 16 credit hours do not qualify for federal aid
• Certain transient students may be eligible to receive aid while attending Georgia Highlands College.

a)       Georgia Highlands College participates in consortium agreements for transient students. This means that students must contact their home schools Financial aid office to have an agreement sent to GHC so that eligibility can be determined.

b)       Students who are HOPE eligible would also need to contact and inform their home school’s financial aid office so that a Hope Scholarship Eligibility letter for Transient Study can be sent to GHC’s Financial Aid Office.

c)       Students who plan to be transient from GHC to another school must inform our Financial Aid Office that they intend to be transient so that we may send a consortium agreement to the appropriate school.

d)       Students who plan to be transient from GHC to another school and are only interested in HOPE, need to complete the HOPE Transient form at www.highlands.edu/financialaid Once this form is completed, GHC’s Office of Student Financial Aid will send a HOPE scholarship Eligibility letter for Transient Study to the appropriate school.

• Ineligible non-citizens are only eligible to apply for Foundation Scholarships and other private scholarships.

• You do not have to be a full-time student to receive a HOPE Scholarship or Grant.
• HOPE Scholarships are for HOPE Scholars who enroll in GHC associate degree programs. Students who were not HOPE scholars following high school graduation may qualify for the HOPE Scholarship after attempting 30, 60, and/or 90 college credit hours with a 3.0 HOPE GPA. HOPE Scholarship recipients must have a HOPE GPA of 3.0 at 30, 60, 90 and End-of-Spring Checkpoints in order to maintain their HOPE Scholarship. Students with attempted credit hours or HOPE paid hours of 127 hours or more do not qualify for the HOPE Scholarship.
• HOPE Grants are for Georgia residents enrolled in Technical Division Certificate or Mini-Certificate programs. There is no age limitation or high school grade requirement. The HOPE Grant will only cover required certificate and mini-certificate level courses. The HOPE Grant may be received for a maximum of 63 paid hours (starting with Summer 2003).