Written by Sarah Kyle
Following the induction of the state lottery in Arkansas, a new scholarship of $5,000 per year has been made available to Arkansas college students.
The Arkansas Challenge Scholarship, also called the lottery scholarship, was recently made available by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education with varying requirements for traditional, current and non-traditional students.
However, overarching requirements for all categories are that recipients must be an Arkansas resident for at least one year, must be a U.S. citizen, must complete the Federal Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and must not have a previous undergraduate degree.
Traditional students, defined as students entering a university this fall, are required to graduate from an Arkansas public school after Dec. 31, 2009, and must successfully complete the Smart Core curriculum and earn either a 2.5 GPA or a 19 on the ACT (900 on the SAT). Traditional students may also graduate from a private or home school and earn at least a 19 on the ACT.
Current students are defined as students who have entered postsecondary education before the upcoming school year. Current students are required to have been continuously enrolled as full-time students and obtain a cumulative GPA of 2.5.
Non-traditional students are allowed to enroll either part-time or full-time, and must have graduated from an Arkansas public school with a GPA of 2.5 or an ACT score of 19 (900 on the SAT), or from a private or home school — or earn a GED — with an ACT score of 19.
Non-traditional students must have completed at least 12 semester hours of college credit with a 2.5 college GPA.
Scholarship recipients are required to complete 15 hours each semester until graduation.
For more information, check the Arkansas Department of Higher Education Web site at www.adhe.edu or contact Dustin Howell atdhowell@harding.edu.
