The Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program provides tuition scholarships to children who desire to attend private K-12 schools. Only students who are Georgia residents enrolled in a Georgia secondary or primary public school or who are eligible to enroll in a qualified kindergarten program or pre-kindergarten program can receive GOAL Scholarships. When making application to a participating school for receipt of a GOAL Scholarship, families must provide proof of eligibility.
Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program does not accept applications directly from parents or guardians. Instead, it is up to one of our GOAL participating schools to recommend a student to receive a GOAL Scholarship. Thus, parents or guardians should contact one of our participating schools to apply for admission to the school and to inquire whether their children would be eligible to receive a GOAL Scholarship. It is up to the private school to design its own financial aid and GOAL Scholarship application process. Prior to enrollment of the student at the private school, school officials will submit a scholarship recommendation to GOAL for its consideration and approval.
Under Georgia law, there are no limits on the amount of the scholarships that can be awarded to eligible students. Also, there are no limits on the household income of the families receiving scholarships. Thus, Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program officials will consider all reasonable scholarship recommendations submitted by our participating schools.
At the time a private school elects to participate in the GOAL Scholarship Program, GOAL provides school officials with a set of voluntary guidelines that school officials may consider in formulating their scholarship recommendations. It is up to school officials to decide whether and in what cases to comply with the voluntary guidelines. Under the guidelines, in order for a child to receive a GOAL Scholarship, total household income of the applicant family must not exceed $88,000. Under the guidelines, the maximum scholarship that may be awarded is an amount equal to 85 percent of the private school’s lowest published rate of tuition for the recipient’s grade or $10,000, whichever is less. In cases where the voluntary guidelines are applied, parents will be requested by the school to provide copies of the first two pages of their most recently filed federal income tax return.
The Georgia GOAL Scholarship Program voluntary guidelines are available here.
When GOAL approves a scholarship recommendation, GOAL sends a GOAL Scholarship Agreement to school officials for execution by the parents, an authorized school official, and GOAL. Each GOAL Scholarship is awarded for the entire time that the student is enrolled at the participating school, subject to the availability of designated scholarship funds and the adherence by the student and parents to all applicable school policies. The GOAL Scholarship Agreement sets forth the amount of the scholarship for the initial year. Thereafter, school officials recommend to GOAL the amount of the scholarship to be received each year.
