Jill Carter, a senior at Cheatham County Central High School in Ashland City, will be part of what's shaping up to be the largest college freshman class in state history.
The surge of students is being driven by Tennessee's new lottery scholarships. Without them, Carter and many other high school seniors wouldn't have a chance to attend college.
"If I didn't get that lottery scholarship, I wouldn't have the money to go," said Carter, who has been accepted at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville and plans to study physical therapy or nursing.
State university officials say they are seeing roughly 10 percent to 20 percent more applications than at the same time last year.
Guidance counselors say the increase comes from two categories of high school seniors: those who would not have considered college without the free money and those who otherwise might have gone out of state.
The lottery scholarships, worth roughly $12,000 over four years of college, will be available to students enrolling this fall. The money comes from the new state lottery, which is supposed to generate $88 million by July 1 to pay for scholarships for some 65,000 students.
"I have been in education for 20 years, and I can't remember anything that has covered our state like this, that excited people," said Myron Oglesby-Pitts, deputy director of the Tennessee Student Assistance Corp., the agency running the scholarship program.
By March 19, the agency had received 80,464 financial aid applications. That's more than double the 39,594 received by the same time last year.
The lottery scholarships have prompted so many to apply that TSAC is finding a lot more students who also are eligible for traditional scholarships. The extra applications, and additional grants, are depleting TSAC's $41 million fund for student grants.
The agency says it's good news more students are eligible for more financial aid, even though it's proving to be a drain on state coffers.
TSAC has asked lawmakers for more money to pay for the non-lottery scholarships.
The deadline for applications is still a few months away at most schools, but the number of students thinking about staying in-state is definitely on the rise, school officials say.
"It's just bottom line; it's money," said Lea Chisum, career and college counselor at Bartlett High School outside of Memphis. "Several of them have made the comment that, `Wow! If I stay here, I can get all this money."'
Susan Cobb, a college counselor at Cheatham County Central High School, said there have been assemblies, local radio spots and other efforts to get students excited about the scholarships.
Applications are still being processed, but state officials expect this fall's freshman class to be about 15 percent bigger than last year.
"Those projections are conservative," said Brian Noland, associate executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. "It could be more than that."
Now, state schools are trying to figure out how to deal with the expected surge in freshmen -- while universities in bordering states are coping with the idea of fewer students from Tennessee.
Chisum said she's seeing more of her good students get tuition waivers from out-of-state schools trying to keep up with the lottery scholarship.
Right now, Tennessee schools are counting up available dorm rooms, classrooms and professors. At some universities, there just isn't enough room for any more students.
"How can we take the existing faculty, classrooms and dorm space and make sure we are efficiently using the resources we have," Noland said. "That's the question."
New rules are expected in April telling each of the state's colleges and universities how many new students they will be allowed to accept. Although students may not end up at the school of their choice, qualifying students will be offered a spot somewhere in the system, officials said.
Some will be asked to go to a community college instead of a four-year-school, or be given a spot at one of the state's smaller universities after applying to one of the larger ones.
One problem is that after years of budget cuts, the universities are not getting any extra money to deal with the new students.
"There has been a rather persistent misperception that because of the lottery scholarships that the university will be flooded with a lot more money," said David Foote, assistant professor of management and marketing at Middle Tennessee State University.
Foote said he expects it will cost universities more money because they will need to hire people to make sure students are meeting the scholarship's requirements.
"It's a great benefit to the families and students in the state, a lot of money they save, but it does not bring new money into the university," Foote said.
The major lottery awards are available to any Tennessee high school graduate with a 3.0 grade-point average or a score of 19 on the ACT college-entrance exam.
Wish I will,Wish I might,Wish Mississippi had a lottery yea right..That still makes me upset knowing we need the Lottery as well as TN.Our Schools NEEDS it.But I don't make the rules I just play by them.~~~2theQ~~~Still not understanding???????
I completely agree. Mississippi is in desparate need of school aid, and a lottery would be perfect. Excuse my frankness, but the legislators in your state are being very stupid about this, especially since they already allow a ton of casino gambling, which brings far less money directly to needy programs like education than a lottery would.
Wish I will,Wish I might,Wish Mississippi had a lottery yea right..That still makes me upset knowing we need the Lottery as well as TN.Our Schools NEEDS it.But I don't make the rules I just play by them.~~~2theQ~~~Still not understanding???????
2theQ,
I completely agree. Mississippi is in desparate need of school aid, and a lottery would be perfect. Excuse my frankness, but the legislators in your state are being very stupid about this, especially since they already allow a ton of casino gambling, which brings far less money directly to needy programs like education than a lottery would.
A big MS-take on their part, eh?