A decade ago on Jan. 20, the Tennessee Education Lottery began selling tickets across the state.
While there have been other financial benefits across the state, some of the most notable would be for education. The lottery has raised more than $2.89 billion for education programs since its inception.
While this was a controversial topic at the time, students across the state reflect back on how creating a lottery helped them to better themselves by making the dream of attending a college become a reality.
The lottery allowed the state to create the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship, or TELS, which has encouraged Tennessee high school students to continue their education at state colleges and universities.
Bradley Stringfield is just one of thousands of UTM students who was able to attend because of the TELS. Stringfield is from Oliver Springs, Tenn. and is studying Communications. He is also the Managing Editor, Online for The Pacer.
“Coming out of high school, my GPA wasn’t high enough to get any financial aid, and I refused to take out loans. Luckily, my ACT was high enough for the Lottery Scholarship,” Stringfield said.
“After my first year of college I lost it, but I was able to regain it. Currently I have a 3.13 GPA, and if it wasn’t for the Lottery Scholarship, I wouldn’t have attended college anywhere, let alone be graduating this semester.”
Another student, Abigail Castleberry of Duck River, Tenn. took advantage of the scholarship as well and graduated in 2008 with a degree in Political Science.
“The Lottery Scholarship combined with the valedictorian scholarship made going to an in-state school the best option. Now that I am in law school, many of my peers have significant undergrad debt combined with the hefty price tag of a legal education. The Lottery [Scholarship] really saved me from being in a crippling financial situation,” Castleberry said.
The TELS is awarded through the HOPE, GAMS and ASPIRE scholarships.
According to the TELS Fact Book, in 2004-05 the program served 31,272 students with $86,650,189 in scholarships. By 2011-12, 69,528 students were helped with $277,687,197 in scholarships.
An additional 33,275 students were helped through assistance such as the Wilder-Naifeh, Dual Enrollment, HOPE Non-Traditional, HOPE ACCESS and Helping Heroes grants. The additional assistance totaled $35,294,717.
At its peak, the maximum HOPE award covered 78 percent of average tuition and fees at a public four-year institution, and 77 percent at a public two-year institution in 2006-07. In 2012-13, the maximum HOPE award, excluding summer, covered 54 percent of average tuition and fees at both public four-year and two-year institutions.
By 2011-12, The University of Tennessee system, which includes UTM, had 21,283 students who received $87,805,293 in scholarships.
