The Office of Financial Aid would like to give an update to freshmen
on the Tennessee Lottery Scholarships. As you may already know,
lottery scholarships are scheduled to be awarded beginning Fall 2004.
Many college freshmen this will also be eligible to receive thenew
scholarships  (2003 high school graduates).

Not all regulations and rules governing the lottery scholarships have
been finalized, but summarized below is what we know to date. For
more detailed information on the lottery scholarships, you can check
the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation's (TSAC) website here:
http://www.state.tn.us/tsac/lotteryfaq.htm


The main scholarships that will benefit UTC students are:
1) HOPE Scholarships ($3,000 award)
2) Need-Based Supplemental award ($1,000 stacked with $3,000 HOPE)
3) General Assembly Merit Scholarship ($1,000 stacked with $3,000 HOPE)
4) HOPE Access Grant ($2,000 award)


For CURRENT UTC freshmen, to qualify for HOPE scholarships next year,
the following criteria must be met:

1) Graduated from high school after January 1, 2003   AND

2) Complete at least 24 hours for the current academic year with a
2.75 or higher GPA   AND

3) Scored at least a 19 ACT (or 890 SAT)   OR   have graduated from
high school with a 3.0 unweighted overall and college core grade
point average (GPA) out of a possible 4.0

We will be sending information to freshmen who we can identify as
being potentially eligible, but this notice is going to all students.
We want to try every effort to get this information out to our
freshmen so they can do what they need to do to receive these funds
Fall 2004.

To apply for the HOPE Scholarship, each student MUST submit a 2004-05
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The priority
deadline is May 1, 2004. This may be submitted online AFTER January
1, 2004 at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov or by completing a paper FAFSA,
available through the financial aid office.