Image Credit: State Representative William Lamberth / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
House Majority Leader William Lamberth says he plans to sponsor a bill that would offer incentives to Hope Scholarship recipients who complete their college degrees early.
Currently, the state offers the Hope Scholarship to high-school students who enroll in a two or four-year degree program at a school in the state within 16 months of graduation. The student can continue to receive the lottery-funded scholarship as long as they maintain a 3.0 grade point average in college.
Lamberth says that the problem lies in the fact that many students are taking up to six years to complete their degrees, and there is nothing to push them to finish in less than the typical four years. However, Lamberth noted that those who finish early do not require the full amount of funding from the state, and there is no monetary benefit for them to do so.
“There are other students who do that in three, and we don’t give any incentive for that,” Lamberth said in a speech at an event sponsored by the State Collaborative on Reforming Education last Thursday.
He stated that students who finish early and go on to graduate school just lose that extra financial incentive because they cannot carry any remaining funds over with them after they complete their undergraduate degrees.
Lamberth says the bill he is going to sponsor will try and help those scholarship funds to stay with the student who has earned them.
“We’re one of the few states in the nation where community college is free, TCATs are free, your four-year degree has a significant scholarship help. We’ve got to make sure to kind of maximize all those opportunities,” Lamberth said.
State Representative Scott Cepicky expressed his support of the proposal.
“It’s possible, if you go to summer school, go to inter-session courses – you could pick up a whole extra year of education in college,” Cepicky stated in an interview with Main Street Nashville. “Why would we take our students that are devoted the most and penalize them by taking that year of Hope Scholarship away and not allowing them to use that for grad school?”
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
