Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship Program

All Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship Program Recipients Must:

• Have been a Tennessee resident for one year by September 1 of the year of application date. For students beginning spring and summer terms, residency determined by February 1 as of application date.
• Dependent children of U.S. military, Tennessee National Guard on active duty, or Department of Defense employees, who maintain Tennessee residency while stationed out-of-state are eligible.
• Enroll in a Tennessee public college/university or enroll in a Tennessee private college/university that is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
• Apply with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), available at www.fafsa.ed.gov. To receive a paper FAFSA, check with your high school counselor or call the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC) 1-800-342-1663 or (615) 741-1346. Applications must be received by September 1st for fall semester, February 1st for spring and summer semesters. Early application is recommended.

Award amounts based on available funding from State Lottery.

For answers to your questions, please contact the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation at (615) 741-1346 or 1-800-342-1663 or FAX (615) 741-6101 or check http://www.collegepaystn.com

Lottery Recipient Retention Requirements

Students must be in a degree seeking program; certificate programs are not eligible.

Lottery Retention Standards

In order to continue receiving the Lottery scholarship, students must meet the following criteria:

• Student must meet the institution’s SAP (Satisfactory Academic Progress) standards for each term.
• GPA Eligibility will be reviewed by the institution at the end of the semesters in which the student has attempted a total of 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 semester hours:
  • GPA of 2.75 is required after 24 attempted semester hours.
  • PA of 3.0 is required after 48, 72, 96, and 120 attempted semester hours
• Students must maintain continuous enrollment for each academic year (fall & spring). Unless written prior approval is granted from the Financial Aid Office. (See FA Office for details).
• Students must maintain full-time status for each term in which the student was enrolled as full-time on the 14^th day of the term.

Note:  In order to ensure as many students as possible retain the Lottery scholarship, WSCC has established the 14^th day of each term as the census date for determining eligibility for full-time or part-time status. Thus, students may drop from full-time to part-time before the 14^th day without losing their scholarship for future terms. 

Option to Regain Lottery Scholarship (except Merit) - Available One time only

• This option allows students who lost their lottery (due to GPA) the opportunity to regain it by reaching a cumulative GPA of 3.0 at any of their next benchmarks.  Benchmark hours are when a student reaches 24, 48, 72, 96 & 120 attempted hours.  This does include remedial hours.
• Awards are not retroactive.  The student will regain eligibility at the next benchmark in which he/she achieves the required GPA.
• Students must also stay continuously enrolled and not have changed enrollment status (dropped from full-time to part-time) in a term without written prior approval from the Financial Aid Office.

Option to Repeat One Class

Students receiving the Lottery scholarship also have a one time option to repeat a course and utilize only the higher of the two grades in the calculation of the postsecondary GPA.  Credit hours count for both classes in determining attempted hours for benchmark purposes.  It is the responsibility of the student to advise offices of Student Records and Financial Aid when this option is exercised.

Additional information for Lottery is available at:    collegepaystn.com