Arkansans Favor Merit-Based Lottery Scholarships

Seven in 10 Arkansas voters support awarding lottery scholarships based on students' academic achievement, specifically a 2.5 grade point average or higher, a statewide survey reports.

Only 18-percent support awarding lottery-funded scholarships based solely on family income.
 
The telephone poll of 400 Arkansans also shows that 74-percent of respondents believe a lack of college scholarships is a big problem for students and 65-percent trust that new scholarships funded with the net proceeds of a state-run lottery will be available to all graduating high school seniors regardless of family income.

"These poll results confirm my belief that when Arkansas voters approved a constitutional amendment authorizing a state lottery for college scholarships, they did so believing every Arkansas citizen who wants to earn a college degree would have the opportunity to do so with lottery dollars," Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter said.

HOPE for Arkansas LLC commissioned the poll, which was conducted January 26-27 by Opinion Research Inc. of Little Rock. The margin of error is plus or minus five-percent.

Other poll findings include:

* 81-percent of respondents support granting lottery scholarships for non-traditional adult students who want to go back to college.
* 81-percent of respondents believe the current state scholarship process is too complicated and confusing.
* 70-percent of respondents oppose granting lottery scholarships only to families making less than $30,000.
* 60-percent of respondents oppose granting lottery scholarships only to students from families making less than $75,000. * 98-percent of respondents believe it's important that Arkansans have access to education beyond high school.