More Scholarships Thanks To The Lottery

Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter says the latest draft of the bill is closer to the initial vision of a simple, fair scholarship program.

Also Wednesday some Arkansas high school students, including ninth graders Randee Cox and Janae Mosbey, took a break from text books to tour the capitol. "When you come, it kind of makes you interested," Mosbey.

They witnessed a little magic too, legislators turning bills into laws.

House speaker Robbie Wills and others are working on the lottery bill, which will directly impact thousands of students.

"We have a tremendous opportunity with this lottery to transform Arkansas in terms of higher education," says Wills.

"We want bigger scholarships, we want tighter ethics, and we want a simple process. We satisfy those three things and I think and I think it's a big winner for the students and families and Arkansas," explains Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter.

"I think it's actually a good thing because there's a lot of people, because of the economy who can't afford to go to school because of the economy," says Mosbey.

"My mom says that if I want to go to school I have either get scholarship for school or join the military."

The bill adds the proceeds from the lottery to the $20 million already allocated to the Arkansas academic challenge program. Meaning and about 26,500 more possible scholarships.

Under this plan for the first time ever students already in college can apply for the Academic Challenge Scholarship for the remainder of their time on campus.

UALR student Libby Duke applied late and is paying for it.
"By that point it was too late I had already missed all the scholarship deadlines so I just had to pay in full," says Duke.

As the lottery is written now, more students with a minimum GPA of a 2.5 will qualify for state scholarships.