Lottery funds provide scholarships

By AMBER DILLEY
Glasgow Daily Times

GLASGOW October 10, 2008 11:03 am

— Students in local districts have participated in the Kentucky Lottery system without ever buying a ticket.
Students in Barren, Hart, Metcalfe and Monroe counties received more than $3 million in college scholarships and grants paid for by Kentucky Lottery proceeds in the 2008 fiscal year.
The funds were used to award nearly 27,000 scholarships and grants.
Edward Cunningham, executive director of the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority wrote in a news release: “The Kentucky Lottery plays a vital role in providing funding for direct benefits to students through Kentucky’s need-based and merit-based programs. In fact, 95 percent of the $191 million awarded to help students pay for college or technical training in the academic year 2007-08 was made possible by lottery proceeds.”
Sara Westerman, communications specialist with Kentucky Lottery, said that last year’s sales for lottery tickets were $778.2 million.
“It varies, how much of the tickets themselves go to scholarships, but at the end of the year, 45 percent of the sales go to merit-based scholarships and 55 percent goes to need-based scholarships.”
Lottery proceeds are used to fund the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) program, the College Access Program (CAP) and Kentucky Tuition Grants (KTG).
KEES is a merit-based program allowing any Kentucky high school student who attends a certified high school and achieves a 2.5 or higher GPA to earn scholarships to help pay for higher education at any eligible Kentucky college or technical college.
CAP is a need-based grant program to provide access to Kentucky’s neediest students.
KTG is a need-based grant program for students attending Kentucky’s independent institutions.
Students residing in Barren County received over $1.7 million for KEES, CAP and KTG. Students in Hart County received over $700,000, students in Metcalfe County received over $200,000 and students in Monroe County received over $400,000 in scholarship and grant money.