Talk of decreasing the Arkansas lottery scholarship has been brought up by the legislative committee that oversees the money. The cut is to affect future recipients of the lottery scholarship. Those who have already been awarded the scholarship are still given the full $5,000 so long as they maintain the required GPA.

The scholarship award could potentially be cut by 10 percent.

According to the Lottery Oversight Committee, the reason for the funding cut is because there is simply not enough money to give.

“If we don’t make a recommendation, it will go forward and continue at five thousand twenty five dollars, and we will be out of money in the third year,” said Representative Barry Hyde, Chair of the Legislative Committee, on todaysthv.com.

If the committee moves to decrease the amount, it does not change the fact that the cost of college increases every year. The price of tuition, books, and room and board go up every year. A decrease of 10 percent can make the biggest difference in going to college and not.

Instead of cutting the amount award, the committee should move to make the requirements for obtaining the scholarship harder. Allowing the scholarship to practically be given away to anyone is the reason the committee is running out of money.

Since basically anyone can receive the scholarship, it really isn’t a reward for those who work hard. There is no incentive for students to continue to do well if they can be given money for hardly any work at all.

The point of giving away a scholarship is to award those who go above and beyond expectations.

If the requirements are higher, then the committee isn’t giving away the money. They are actually awarding those who work hard to maintain a high GPA, as well those who receive great scores on their ACT.

By raising the standards, the legislative committee can manage the amount of money given away but not make any cuts to the amount awarded.