Nearly all UT freshmen qualify for lottery aid

“Given that the scholarship eligibility requirements are generous, those numbers are right in line with what we expected,” said Brian Noland with the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.

Statewide, about 60 to 65 percent of freshmen at public colleges will get the awards, administrators say.

Richard Bayer, UT dean of enrollment services, said while about 99 percent of freshmen who applied qualify for the lottery scholarship, about 95 percent will actually get one. Some eligible students don’t apply for various reasons.

“Some students have moral or ethical issues, or they don’t want to divulge their income,” Bayer said. “Some are in-state students but didn’t graduate from high school. That will knock the number down.”

Tennessee high school graduates with a 3.0 grade point average or a 21 on the ACT qualify for a Tennessee Education Lottery scholarship.

Last year, which was the lottery scholarship program’s first year, about 36,000 Tennesseans received awards, nearly two-thirds of which were college freshmen. At public colleges, about 60 percent of freshmen were on lottery money, officials said.

At the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, between 85 and 90 percent of freshmen will be on lottery scholarships.

UTC spokesman Chuck Cantrell said the college promotes access, which can mean admitting students who don’t meet the lottery qualifications.

“Many of our students come from families who do not have college degrees in their background, so you would expect in some ways for our numbers to be lower than other campuses,” Cantrell said.