Scholarship- funds measure advances

The House Education Committee favors a bill Tuesday to allow a student who, in his first year of college, does not meet the minimum ACT score to qualify for the lottery- financed Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship to receive funds in subsequent years if he meets certain requirements.

Senate Bill 31, by Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R- Texarkana, passed without dissent in a voice vote. The bill now goes to the full House.

A student needs an ACT score of at least 19 to qualify for the lottery scholarship. For last year’s high school graduates, the scholarship provided $ 1,000 for students in their first years of college, $ 4,000 in the second and third years, and $ 5,000 in their fourth years.

The bill would allow a student who doesn’t earn a 19 on his ACT test, but who is enrolled in college full time, earns 27 semester hours and achieves a grade- point average of at least 2.5 in his first year to qualify for the scholarship in his second through fourth years.

— Brian Fanney