Rising tuition may have solution

A proposed constitutional amendment to establish a state lottery for college scholarships is only one answer to students' pleas for help as college tuition rises and availability of student loans decreases, Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter said Wednesday.

The proposed amendment, which is to be voted on in the Nov. 4 election ballot, would generate an estimated $100 million in net revenue in addition to existing college scholarship funding, an information packet released by Halter's office said.

The estimate is based on a per-capita lottery play in Arkansas' border states of Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas, a Web site for the lottery, www.hopeforarkansas.org, said. The Web site was recommended by Halter's office.

All net proceeds of the state lottery would be held in a trust fund to be used only toward scholarships and grants for Arkansans enrolled in any certified 2 or 4-year college or university in the state.

Halter said the proposed state lottery would be one solution to rising college tuition and the decreasing availability of student loans.

"It's certainly what we are trying to fix. College has never been so expensive or so important," Halter said.

When asked if the scholarships would go only toward incoming college freshmen or all college students in general, Halter said, "Those types of issues would be decided later by a legislative body."

"All the details on who is eligible and who gets it will be decided in a legislative body because you don't want it to be in the state's constitution," Halter said. "That is hard to change." According to the amendment, Section 14 of Article 19 in Arkansas' constitution would be changed to withdraw both the word "prohibited" after lotteries and the following sentence stating, "No lottery shall be authorized by this State, nor shall the sale of lottery tickets be allowed."

It is an amendment that Amanda Organ of Tyronza said she would vote for.

"I would vote for it just because it is helpful to college students," Organ, a junior physical therapy major, said. "Being one, I could use all the help I can get because college is expensive."

Organ said she would vote for the amendment though, even if it was not helping college students.

She said, "It's not going to stop people" from going to play the lottery elsewhere.

The amendment would not change the state's law banning casinos.

Halter said he has received support from Arkansans on the proposal and did not consider past concerns on whether illegal aliens or their children would be able to use the money to attend school as a problem in passing the amendment.

"I think we have focused this on Arkansas citizens going to Arkansas colleges, and I feel real good about this," Halter said. "This is so important to Arkansas families that I feel that we are going to be able to break through and do alright."

However, at least one ASU student said he would not vote for the lottery.

"The lottery, in my point of view, is only targeting the lower class," Michael Miller, a junior biology major of Paragould, said.

Miller said the money spent on the lottery could be spent elsewhere to boost the economy and that the net proceeds would go toward scholarships did not help to change his mind. How the scholarships would be awarded was Miller's main question.

He said past scholarships handed out were "wasted" by students who received free rides to college yet made bad grades and had to drop out.

"There is no substitute to hard work," Miller said.

Currently 42 states and the District of Columbia have lotteries. The Arkansas General Assembly, or an agency or commission established by state law, would run Arkansas' lottery and decide what types of lottery games would be available if the amendment is passed.

Halter will be on campus at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Student Union's Centennial Hall to speak and answer questions on the proposed amendment for a state lottery.

Halter, who will already be in town to speak to the Rotary Club of Jonesboro, was invited by the Student Government Association President Ryan Beaird to visit ASU to speak to students.

For more information on the proposed lottery amendment, go to www.hopeforarkansas.com.