Bredesen drops plan to boost scholarship awards

Budget pressures have forced Gov. Phil Bredesen to abandon plans to boost the lottery scholarship awards for community college students.
Will Pinkston, a senior adviser to the Democratic governor, said that increasing the annual scholarships from $2,000 to $3,000 had been one of Bredesen’s top priorities until just weeks ago.
Higher education officials are warning that demand for lottery scholarships could soon outstrip the state’s ability to pay for them. They point to increased enrollment amid poor economic conditions and an expected increase in the number of eligible students because of more accountability in education.
“If what we are trying to do as a government is encourage more people to go into the two-year environment, perhaps we need to put incentives in place to better make that happen,’’ Pinkston told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. “But that isn’t going to happen this year.’’
Bredesen has called community colleges a “magic ingredient’’ for improving Tennesseans’ higher education program, but has so far been unable to fulfill his 2006 campaign promise to provide free tuition to two-year schools for high school students who maintain C averages or better.
Bredesen has announced a special legislative session on education next month. On higher education, the governor’s proposals include standardizing community college courses to make it more clear which credits transfer to four-year schools and shifting all remedial education responsibilities from four-year schools to community colleges.