Posts published on September 8, 2014

State Lottery-Funded Scholarships Are a Gamble

A Gamble with Consequences: State Lottery-Funded Scholarship
Programs as a Strategy for Boosting College Affordability

Several states utilize lottery-funded scholarship programs with a chief objective to improve college affordability. With strong bipartisan legislative support, these programs have grown in popularity and are touted as an ideal means for earmarking revenues to advance state higher education priorities.
This policy brief discusses the evolution of state lottery-funded scholarship programs and provides a critical look at both the benefits and drawbacks in the programs’ design and outcomes. The paper reveals that, when examining these programs through the frameworks of finance, college access and affordability, and issues of politics and philosophy, many unintended and detrimental consequences may arise. The paper includes observations on the recently announced Tennessee Promise scholarship program, and concludes with a set of recommendations for enhancing state lottery-funded scholarship programs aimed at more equitably enhancing college affordability.

Authored by Kati Lebodia, Contributing Policy Analyst, AASCU