For the first 16 years of its existence, Georgia’s HOPE scholarship program did something unusual for a state entitlement: It tilted toward the people who needed it most.
From 1995 through 2011, the 147 counties outside metro Atlanta’s core counties — sparsely populated rural communities and the state’s regional hub cities — produced substantially more HOPE scholars than the Atlanta region.
In 1995, those counties were home to about 58% of the state’s population and produced nearly 70% of the first full HOPE class…