Online classes, once a sore spot for University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue, are suddenly looking like part of the fix for the state’s enrollment and degree-completion problems. Citing new internal numbers, Perdue is now backing Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposed $325 million DREAMS scholarship plan, telling lawmakers at state budget hearings that fresh data has eased his long-running skepticism about virtual instruction.
The shift puts online learning at the center of Georgia’s strategy to reel back in working adults and students who stopped out of college because the bills, not the coursework, became too much.
Perdue says new data eased his concerns
Perdue’s change of heart started at a recent Board of Regents meeting, when Angela Bell, the system’s vice chancellor for research and policy analysis, walked regents through new performance numbers. Bell told the board “we have no evidence that online education is systematically hurting our students in terms of the outcomes that we observed,” a line that landed squarely with a chancellor who has not always been a fan of remote instruction.
Perdue later said that presentation convinced him online options are not tanking student results and are, in fact, lining up with what more students want. He told The Atlanta Journal‑Constitution that online coursework can help parents and working adults get back into college on schedules that actually fit their lives. As he put it, “Education is a business. In a business, you have to provide a product that people want.”
What the DREAMS scholarship would do
Kemp’s amended state budget carves out $325 million for a one-time endowment to launch the DREAMS scholarship, a new University System program aimed squarely at the costs that pile up beyond tuition. According to the USG Foundation, DREAMS could provide up to $3,000 per eligible undergraduate each year, with the money flowing through individual campus foundations that know their students’ needs up close.
The scholarship is designed to sit alongside HOPE, not replace it. Where HOPE is merit-based, DREAMS is built to target students with clear financial need, nudging them to complete the FAFSA and a brief financial-literacy curriculum as part of qualifying for aid.
State context and the budget math
Georgia has spent decades leaning on merit aid while going without a broad, need-based grant program. The Georgia Budget & Policy Institute notes the state is one of only two in the country without a statewide need-based aid program.
Under Kemp’s plan, roughly $25 million would be set aside for near-term awards, with the rest poured into an endowment that would throw off scholarship dollars year after year, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting. Advocates and budget analysts argue that even relatively small grants can be the difference between a student finishing a degree or walking away, especially for those already juggling heavy loan balances and the constant risk of stopping out.
Regents push back
Not everyone on the Board of Regents is sold on the online pivot. Several regents pressed system leaders on whether virtual courses are more about institutional revenue than student success, with Regent James Hull calling parts of the staff’s analysis “somewhat self-serving.” Regent Harold Reynolds raised alarms about how online-heavy schedules might affect students’ work ethic and mental health.
The split underscored Perdue’s argument that the system has to thread the needle between quality and access as it weighs expanding online offerings, a debate detailed by The Atlanta Journal‑Constitution.
What’s next
The $325 million is far from a done deal. Lawmakers in the General Assembly will have to sign off as they hammer out the amended budget, after Kemp spotlighted the proposal in his Jan. 15 State of the State address.
Perdue has already signaled he is ready to work the phones and help raise private donations to deepen the DREAMS endowment, while the USG Foundation has begun seeding the program with philanthropic gifts. If legislators approve the state appropriation, system leaders say a mix of public seed money and continued private fundraising could gradually scale the scholarship into a long-term fixture of Georgia’s college-aid landscape.
