One of our State Legislators, Sen. Steve Cohen, has been receiving a large amount of press coverage lately regarding excess lottery funds and his plans for the Tennessee Lottery's Hope Scholarship.
He is trying to generate support for his submitted bill requesting the state use the lottery's excess revenues to fund an increase in the Hope Scholarship. While it is fortunate that many high school seniors will be able to attend college because of this scholarship, it is also unfortunate because it doesn't allow the majority of students enrolled at collges like The University of Memphis equal access to these funds that Gov. Bredesen has suggested.
Sen. Cohen wants to raise the Hope Scholarship from $3,000 to $4,000, enabling a whole new class of college enrollees. While the inital group of recipients is finishing their first year of college with their four-year renewable scholarships, any college student that is not a recent or future graduate of a Tennessee high school is unable to apply.
Gov. Bredensen has supported using this excess lottery revenue for upperclassmen and non-traditional students in a way to support all those who desire a higher education. However, Sen. Cohen opposes such ideas. In this new generation of politically savvy students, it is considered necessary that the college student population becomes involved in this debate. If you deem yourself worthy of extra financial aid help, then please write or call your legislature about the Tennessee Hope Scholarship.
Christopher M. Dorais
engineering senior
