On Friday, February 27th, Chris Green, president of the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC), joined MAX to review the state’s financial aid ecosystem, workforce alignment efforts, and new investments designed to expand access, affordability, and completion in postsecondary education. GSFC administers over $1 billion annually in scholarships, grants, and financial aid programs serving hundreds of thousands of Georgia students. Green’s presentation reviewed several key programs and initiatives and emphasized Georgia’s coordinated, data-driven approach to becoming and remaining the Top State for Talent.
Green highlighted key ways Georgia is working to connect students to higher education, such as:
Georgia MATCH (Direct Admissions)
- The nation’s largest state-run direct admissions program.
- 136,000+ high school seniors received personalized admission letters from the Governor.
- Students can request information or claim admission with minimal friction.
- Contributed to enrollment growth across both the University System of Georgia (USG) and the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), outperforming national enrollment trends.
Dual Enrollment
- Continued expansion with 71,000+ students earning more than 736,000 college credit hours in the most recent academic year.
- Additional state funding approved to support sustained growth.
HOPE, Zell Miller, and Lottery-Funded Aid
- Lottery-funded scholarships remain the largest portion of GSFC-administered aid.
- The HOPE Scholarship covers 100% of tuition for eligible students, reinforcing Georgia’s commitment to college affordability.
Georgia College Completion Grant
- Targets students near degree completion who face small financial barriers.
- Since 2023: 28,000+ awards totaling $32 million, with grants up to $2,500.
- Demonstrates strong impact on improving completion rates.
REACH Georgia Scholarship
- A need-based, public–private scholarship program launched in 2012.
- Identifies students beginning in 8th grade and provides a $10,000 scholarship upon program completion.
- Combines financial aid with mentoring and academic support.
In the days ahead, Georgia is also unveiling some exciting new initiatives to help the state’s students, shared Green, such as:
- The first-ever statewide need-based scholarship, representing a $325 million investment in students.
- Proposed foster care scholarship to support postsecondary access for students formerly in foster care.
- Development of a Career Navigator tool to provide personalized education-to-career guidance for students and adult learners.
Special thanks also to MAX board lead for MAX Minutes Chris Kidd, Director of Economic Development with the University System of Georgia, for hosting the conversation.
Click here to view a recording of this session.
Click here for the presentation slides.
ABOUT MAX MINUTES
Launched in 2014, the mission of MAX is to advance economic resilience in the Atlanta region by strengthening connections, collaborations, and practices among workforce developers and organizations engaged in workforce development.
Through our webinar series, MAX Minutes, MAX seeks to bring timely insights to providers, intermediaries, and other partners in workforce. MAX Minutes features talks by key experts in the Atlanta region and beyond on important workforce matters.