HOPE Longitudinal Study: First Year Results

The first wave of the six-year HOPE Longitudinal Study, commissioned by the Council for School Performance and partially sponsored by the Board of Regents, addresses three major questions. First, to what extent do thirteen to fifteen-year-olds and their parents know about the eligibility requirements of the HOPE Scholarship and the associated benefits? Second, what factors affect the expectations students form about attending and graduating from college? Finally, seventh and eighth graders were asked about the new PREP It Up! Program to determine how they heard about the program and to what extent they are able to recall college prep curriculum requirements.The survey was undertaken during the spring of 1997. Given that a database of students with telephone numbers is generally not available, the Applied Research Center called over 44,000 households throughout the state to locate and gain consent of 800 students and their parents to participate in the study