Annual report / Georgia Student Finance Commission, 2022

Annual Report

Message from the President

The 2022 fiscal year has been transformational at the Georgia Student Finance Commission. Despite the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic, every member of the Student Finance team has remained focused on the mission to promote and increase access to education for Georgians. We efficiently distributed $945 million in scholarships, grants, and loans to more than 245,000 Georgia scholars. Significant milestones were reached in 2022 for the HOPE Scholarship program, as GSFC exceeded $13 Billion in award payments to over 2 million students since the inception of the program in 1993.

Our agency has continued investing in new technology to deliver improved customer service to students. We added new enhancements to the multi-lingual, 24/7 Virtual Chat Advisor feature on our GAfutures website. With this tool, students may request the virtual advisor to retrieve account-specific information, such as their academic eligibility status for HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarships and Grants, ACT and SAT scores, and their HOPE GPA. In Fiscal Year 2022, the Virtual Advisor completed 44,921 conversations with visitors to the website.

As part of our strategic plan, the Commission successfully transitioned to a more efficient customer contact system, which allows all agency personnel the flexibility to work remotely, and provided over $100,000 in cost savings to the agency. This new technology provides many customer-friendly features and enhanced communications with our borrowers on a more frequent basis. We recently launched the new GAfutures student dashboard, which allows students to query the status of their FAFSA applications, ACT and SAT scores, or the status of their loan application. The new Student Access Loan dashboard that launched in June 2022 received over 6,000 visits in its first month. We also updated Pathways2gsfa.org, to offer more seamless payment options for student loan borrowers.

For the third consecutive year, the Georgia Technology Authority has recognized GSFC for an innovative technology project, and will present a top honors award to the agency at the Georgia Digital Government Summit in September 2022 for the "Student Access Loan Lifecycle Transition to Paperless Administration" project. GSFC teams collaborated to design and implement a system to digitally process the many documents required in the loan origination and disbursement process for our borrowers.

In February of 2022, the Commission celebrated REACH Georgia's expansion to every public school district in the state. Our state's first need-based mentorship and scholarship program, REACH Georgia has funded over 3,600 scholarships since inception. Commission Board Members and dignitaries hosted REACH scholars at the State Capitol to celebrate the program's 10th Anniversary with a proclamation from Governor Brian Kemp and resolutions from the Georgia Senate and House of Representatives.

In its annual study of 529 plans across the country, Morningstar, Inc., a leading investment research firm, awarded Georgia's Path2College 529 Plan with a "Silver" rating in October 2021. This was an upgrade of two tiers from Neutral to Silver, and we are proud of the marketing efforts of the GSFC Path2College team who played an integral role in the achievement of this recognition. The Path2College 529 Plan marks its 20th year of operation in 2022, and we look forward to continued recognition of value to college savers for many years to come.

I am proud to serve with the dedicated Student Finance team who have created the many new innovations and efficiencies that expand

our impact across the state. Our achievements would not have been possible without the support we receive from our Board of

Commissioners, and we are grateful for their leadership. We look forward to the opportunities in the upcoming year to collaborate with

our education partners in Georgia and across the nation to support students in their pursuit of academic success in their higher education

goals.

Respectfully,

Lynne Riley

Fiscal Year 2022 Highlights
The first student received HOPE in 1994 and now, 28 years later we have successfully helped to fund higher education for over 2 million Georgians. Total funding for the over 2 million HOPE award recipients surpassed $13 billion in FY 2022. The REACH Georgia Scholarship program now covers the entire state. With the onboarding of the 180th school district in FY 2022, the program can now be accessed in all public-school districts. Path2College reached $4.5 billion in assets under management.

$13 billion in
HOPE funding has been awarded to students
P2C reached
$4.5 billion
in assets under management

2 million
Georgia students have received HOPE awards
REACH in all180
School Districts across Georgia

Fiscal Year 2022

HOPE Program $821,643,232

GSFC Use of Funds for Fiscal Year 2022:
$945,345,205

Tuition Equalization Grants $18,123,242
Student Access Loans $25,859,959
Dual Enrollment $70,721,477
Military Programs* $6,201,743
Other Programs** $2,795,552

* Military Programs include: Georgia Military College State Service Scholarship Loan, Georgia National Guard Service Cancelable Loan, Georgia HERO Scholarship, University of North Georgia Military Service Scholarship, University of North Georgia ROTC Grant, and University of North Georgia ROTC Grant for Future Officers ** Other Programs include: Scholarship for Engineering Education, Georgia Public Safety Memorial Grant, REACH Georgia Scholarship, the Georgia Veterinary Education Loan Repayment Program, and the John R. Justice Student Loan Repayment Program

Figures in chart represent awards for FY 2022. The information in this display is presented only to show the general nature of the Georgia Student Finance Commission's business and does not represent its financial position nor conform to generally accepted accounting principles.
HOPE Program

2021-2022 in Detail
Program
Zell Miller Scholarship Public Colleges* Private Colleges
HOPE Scholarship Public Colleges* Private Colleges
Zell Miller Grant HOPE Career Grant HOPE Grant HOPE GED 2021-2022 Totals**

Students
33,981 3,483
102,043 11,653 9,022 23,501 24,126 440
180,758

Awards
$281,172,721 $18,787,170
$428,216,710 $44,209,028 $12,614,262 $13,884,286 $22,539,556 $219,500
$821,643,232

* University System of Georgia and Technical College System of Georgia institutions. ** 2021-2022 Totals for the HOPE Program are unduplicated. Students who received multiple awards and/or enrolled in more than one type of institution were only counted once.

About the Georgia Student Finance Commission

The Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC) is the state's single education finance entity and is responsible for administering state and lottery-funded scholarship, grant, and student loan programs totaling nearly $1 billion annually. Founded in 1965, GSFC strives to promote and increase access to education beyond high school for Georgians. In addition to providing awards to more than 245,000 students each year, GSFC also provides free financial aid and college planning counseling to students, parents, and community organizations across the state. To learn more about our programs and services or to find an Outreach Representative in your area, visit GAfutures.org or gsfc.georgia.gov, or call 1-800-505-GSFC (4732).

Services & Programs

Services
FAFSA Completion Financial Literacy GAfutures.org

K-12 and Postsecondary Outreach Loan Servicing State Financial Aid Information Services

Programs
Dual Enrollment
Georgia College Completion Grant (beginning FY 2023)
Georgia HERO Scholarship
Georgia Military College State Service Scholarship Loan
Georgia National Guard Service Cancelable Loan
Georgia Public Safety Memorial Grant
Georgia Veterinary Education Loan Repayment Program
High School Examination Grant (beginning FY 2023)
HOPE Career Grant
HOPE GED Grant (ended FY2022)

HOPE Grant HOPE Scholarship John R. Justice Program Path2College 529 Plan REACH Georgia Scholarship Scholarship for EngineeringEducation Student Access Loan Tuition Equalization Grant University of North Georgia Military Service Scholarship University of North Georgia ROTC Grant University of North Georgia ROTC Grant for Future Officers Zell Miller Grant Zell Miller Scholarship

Board of Commissioners

Anna Chafin
First Congressional District
F. Faison Middleton, IV
Second Congressional District
Linda McWhorter
Third Congressional District
Thomas E. Bowen
Fourth Congressional District
Laura Morgan
Fifth Congressional District
2022 GSFC. All Rights Reserved.

Ed Pease
Sixth Congressional District
Linwood (Thad) H. Thompson, IV
Seventh Congressional District
Dr. Sarah Beck Hawthorne
Eighth Congressional District
Eric Burrell
Ninth Congressional District
A. Middleton (Mid) Ramsey
Tenth Congressional District
2082 East Exchange Place - Tucker, Georgia 30084 800.505.4732 - gsfc.georgia.gov - GAfutures.org

David Perez
Eleventh Congressional District
Don Anthony Grantham, Jr.
Twelfth Congressional District
Richard Mant
Thirteenth Congressional District
Bill Hightower
Fourteenth Congressional District
Lynne Riley
President & Ex Officio Board Member