BY THE NUMBERSNumber of students served and total lottery scholarship program cost in 2010-11:Florida: 179,076; $423 millionGeorgia: 123,471; $540 millionTennessee: 101,569; $297 millionKentucky: 67,930; $93 millionSouth Carolina: 43;159; $164 millionArkansas: 22,251; $88 millionNew Mexico: 19,696; $47 millionWest Virginia: 9,809; $45 millionSource: Tennessee Higher Education Commission
NASHVILLE – The majority of states that followed Georgia’s lead in creating lottery-funded state scholarships now are coming up with policies to deal with increasing demand and declining revenues.
“The South has experienced huge growth over the last two decades. When states run with a surplus in lottery revenues, the tendency is to increase the amount of the award or the number of scholarships,” said Thomas Sanford, director of research for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.
The downside, he said during the commission’s spring meeting last week, is that sometimes revenues don’t hold up.
Sanford discussed the findings of a commission report comparing Tennessee’s lottery scholarship program with those of the seven other states that have started similar programs since Georgia created the first one in 1993.