Bishop Woosley
The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery will soon celebrate its seventh anniversary and has accomplished much since it was established, Director Bishop Woosley told the Rotary Club of Little Rock in a brief presentation on Tuesday.
He said the organization has awarded more than $604 million in scholarships and exceeded, by raising about $90 million a year, expectations that the state’s lottery would generate between $50 million and $60 million per year for scholarships.
About 202,000 students have received scholarships to attend 51 Arkansas colleges and universities through the lottery program since it was established, Woosley said.
In Pulaski County, $88.5 million has been awarded to over 25,000 students, he added.
Woosley also said his team has visited the University of Arkansas, Arkansas State University, the University of Central Arkansas and University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff every year during football games to present checks at halftime that show how much students from each school received in lottery scholarships and to honor a student of the week.
According to Woosley’s presentation, from 2011-2016:
- 22,353 ASU students received $83.4 million in lottery scholarships;
- 35,600 UA Fayetteville students received $135.4 million in lottery scholarships;
- 25,135 UCA students received $93.8 million in lottery scholarships;
- and 2,530 UAPB students received $8.8 million in lottery scholarships.
“One of the great things about my job is going down on the field and talking to a student who actually will sit there and tell me the impact that the lottery had on his life and the fact that he probably wouldn’t have been able to go to school or would have gone to a different school closer to home,” Woosley said. “And often their parents are with them.”
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