While tuition and enrollment is going up at Georgia’s public colleges and universities, a program that helps pay tuition isn’t keeping pace.

Just approved tuition hikes are putting pressure on the state’s HOPE scholarship program. It pays tuition for kids who have good grades.

David Lee with the Georgia Student Finance Commission says the increases will cost them 54-million dollars next year while their revenues are up less than 1-percent.

Lee says right now they have over 600-million dollars in reserves. If that number falls too quickly state law will trigger a cut in the amount students get for books and fees. That is expected to happen next year.

Tags: HOPE scholarship, Macon, NEWS, Edgar Treiguts, GPB, Josephine Bennett, David Lee, Georgia Student Finance Commission, Tuition hikes