Over the past twenty years, the state of Georgia has paid out $1.5 billion in Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally (HOPE) scholarships — payments covering all or most of college tuition for those high school students who have at least a B average and who maintain a B average in college. Their popularity makes them a “third rail” if anyone politician dares touch them. But, as Jesse Saffron points out on the Pope Center site, this middle-class entitlement is paid for by the Georgia lottery, supported mostly by low-income people. And two-thirds of the recipients lose the scholarships because they can’t keep up the grade average.