Stephen Yeargin

From The Tennessean via the Associated Press:

A special panel has recommended dropping the minimum grade-point average college students must maintain to keep their state lottery scholarships, but the idea is drawing mixed reviews from Tennessee lawmakers.

Gov. Phil Bredesen and state lawmakers called for a review of the lottery scholarship program earlier this year after the Tennessee Higher Education Commission issued a report showing three out of four students were losing the scholarship before they graduate because of poor college grades.

The higher education commission is expected to vote on the panel’s report this week.

To qualify for a scholarship, a student must have a high school GPA of 3.0, or score 21 on the ACT college entrance test. To keep it, students must be enrolled full time, have a college GPA of at least 2.75 after their freshman year and a 3.0 GPA for subsequent years.

The panel wants to drop the latter figure to 2.75, according to a report obtained by The Associated Press. But some lawmakers feel that could make Tennessee students less competitive.

Lowering the minimum GPA requirements for the Tennessee HOPE lottery scholarship in order to make sure more people retain their benefits is absolutely ridiculous. Show me how lowering the standards improves the overall educational value of the program? By that measure, every difficult college course should be altered to make sure that more students pass. Do away with all of the essays and research papers and just go to 25 question multiple choice every so often, with a curve. I cannot see how this benefits anyone involved, other than the lottery program avoiding all of the stories that students are not retaining the scholarships year over year.

Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Memphis, had this to say that prompted this writing:

“The main point is to get students to graduate,” Cohen said.

I have a resounding “hell no” in response to that point. If we wanted to hand out diplomas, it would be a lot cheaper to run our state’s institutions of higher education. In fact, all we would really need is a copy machine and somebody to sit at a table and write a name in. Our graduation rates are in the tank, but lets not lower the bar just to make it look better on paper. Tennessee would not serve its students or its future to produce college graduates in name only. If a student is not prepared to handle college level work, pay for them to attend community college instead until they are ready.

I believe in offering an equal playing field for any student that wants to attend college after high school, regardless of financial situation. But I also believe the responsibility to continue on requires diligence and a bit of effort. If a student cannot make the required GPA, then they simply must find another way to finance their education. I speak as someone who voted for but never received the lottery scholarship benefits.

Furthermore, I believe that the amount of money a student comes to college with is inversely proportional to their overall contribution to the campus community. Some examples that I encountered while at the University of Tennessee at Martin were students that had everything paid for by the state, yet made no effort in class and lived “the good life” until finally failing out after second chance after second chance. I think had these students came with less money to spend on beer runs and other comparatively lavish expenses, they would have spent more time studying and contributing back to the campus community.

The idea of “giving back” is fairly simple. Stay out of the police report. Go to class at least often enough that the professor notices when you are not in attendance. Make an effort to meet a GPA goal somewhere north of a 3.0. Join a student organization or some other outlet that requires responsibility or builds character. That is why you are in college to begin with, right? Be assured that I was never a model student, but at the very least I knew why I came to college and did not lose sight of it from the bottom of a Natty Light can.

Lowering the standard for retaining a lottery scholarship sends the wrong message to those who are skating by just hard enough to keep it now. I strongly believe that as Tennessee lowers its standards, the expectations of students will follow.