Lottery scholarship program provides HOPE

Even if the Tennessee Legislature had not tinkered favorably with the lottery scholarship program, it has proved its value for many students throughout the state.

The merit-based HOPE scholarship program was established by the lottery in 2004. This month, the first scholarship recipients began graduating from colleges and universities in the state. Certainly a number of those students would not have pursued higher education without the aid.

UT officials say that, since 2003, applications to the university have risen 45 percent. This year, the university received about 14,000 applications for the 4,200 places in the freshman class.

This year, the debate over changes to the scholarship program went down to the final day ‘ Wednesday ‘ when lawmakers approved Gov. Phil Bredesen’s scaled-down budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Bredesen had recommended $468 million in cuts to his earlier budget proposal of $28 billion because of an economic downturn.

The change allows a student to keep the scholarship for an extra year if his or her grade-point average falls to 2.75 after the freshman year and sophomore year. Previously, a student could keep the scholarship if his or her grade-point average dropped to 2.75 after the freshman year but had to raise it back to 3.0 after the sophomore year.

There were other positive changes in the lottery scholarship program. Grants based on need will be provided by the Tennessee Student Assistance Corp., for example, and more than 1,700 students who do not choose to attend college directly from high school will be eligible for scholarships.

The end result of the wrangling and debating will be a better educated group of young Tennesseans who are more likely to remain in the state after they graduate and provide a stronger workforce regardless of their profession.