The Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship benefits hundreds of ETSU students.

This money provides the opportunity to decrease student debt upon graduation, and is a lifeline to many people.

Kathy Feagins, the director of the ETSU Scholarship Office, said changes are on their way to better benefit students.

“Good students were losing their scholarships after three years, or three and a half years due to taking additional credits for their honors courses,” Feagins said. “They would quickly reach 120 attempted hours.”

Originally, students would lose their scholarships once one of the following were met: A student graduated with a baccalaureate degree, they had been enrolled in post-secondary education for at least five years or they reached the 120 credit hour benchmark.

Now, students may maintain this scholarship until a baccalaureate degree is achieved, they have been enrolled in post-secondary education for at least five years OR if the student holds the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship for a minimum of 8 full time semesters.

“Let’s say you take six hours during summer, and receive half of the lottery scholarship,” Feagins said. “Then, in fall, you take six more hours, and still receive half of the scholarship, it would equal to one full time semester.”

Feagins said she is very confident that this change to the regulations will significantly help students, and be very beneficial in the future.

“It’s very important when students when looking to see where they stand, they look at the lottery scholarship tab on Goldlink, and not just on their transcript,” Feagins said. “Your lottery hours and GPA can differ from ETSU’s. Dual enrollment is what affects this.”

She urges students to consistently check to make sure that, if they do lose their eligibility, they are aware of exactly how much longer they may keep it.

Dual enrollment credits do not contribute to the 120 attempted credit hours.

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