Wednesday is the deadline to apply for college scholarships funded by the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery. About 30,000 are expected to be awarded in the coming months to traditional and non-tradition students.
Director Bishop Woosley says an improvement in sales this year means they can maintain the number of scholarships being offered.
"We’re having a great year at the lottery from a sales standpoint. We are way above where we were last year as far as scholarship money that we’ve raised, which obviously will mean more money for the students of Arkansas and hopefully we’re having just as many people apply and be eligible as we are selling tickets and making money," Woosley told KUAR News.
He credits the increase in sales on improving advertising and games offered.
"We’re hoping that we’ll finish the year at about between $83 and 85 million, which would be about $12 to $14 million more than what we earned last year. If we can do that I think we’ll hold true to what we’ve done in the past, which is around 30,000 scholarships a year."
But that's still not as good as the lottery’s opening years. The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery Act of 2009 allowed the games to be offered, with scholarships administered by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.
Those interested in applying for a scholarship can do so oneline at: Scholarships.EDHE.edu.