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Arkansas Senate Votes to Cut Scholarship Awards for Freshmen

2 min read

LITTLE ROCK – The Arkansas Senate voted Monday to reduce the lottery-funded scholarships incoming freshmen will receive and base its eligibility solely on standardized testing, despite concerns from Democrats that the move will hurt minority and low-income students.

By a 22-12 vote, the Republican-controlled Senate supported changes to the scholarship program that supporters say are needed because of the lottery’s dwindling revenue. The bill had narrowly failed late last week after several Republicans were absent because of winter weather hitting the state.

The proposal now heads to the House.

The bill lowers the scholarship amount incoming freshmen receive from $2,000 to $1,000 and increase the amount students receive in the second year from $3,000 to $4,000. The amounts received in the following years – $4,000 for juniors and $5,000 for seniors – would remain the same.

The proposal also eliminates the minimum 2.5 grade point average students could use to qualify for the scholarship, instead requiring them to score at least 19 on the ACT. Students can currently qualify using the GPA or ACT requirement. Republican Sen. Jimmy Hickey of Texarkana, who sponsored the legislation, said the measure would save the lottery about $10.5 million.

He said it would also address the number of freshmen – 40 percent, according to the state Department of Higher Education – who don’t maintain eligibility for the scholarship after the first year.

“Doing nothing is not an option,” Hickey told lawmakers before the vote.

The bill passed on a mostly party-line vote, with all but one of the chamber’s 11 Democrats voting against the proposal and two GOP members opposing it. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson hasn’t said whether he supports the legislation.

Democrats objected to relying solely on the ACT for eligibility and said the move would shut the door on many minority and low-income students who need assistance for college.

“That’s what this is about, their shot at the American dream,” Democrats Sen. Linda Chesterfield of Little Rock said. “We should not take that shot away.”

Arkansas voters approved the lottery in 2008 to raise money for college scholarships, and the state began selling tickets the following year. The Legislature already has overhauled a key part of the lottery, approved another measure by Hickey to eliminate the independent commission running the games and put them directly under the governor’s control.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten, broadcast or distributed.)

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