Lottery Proponents Do Funny Math

This past week, the Lottery Commission announced its suggestion that, seeing as how the lottery had performed over and above expectations, Arkansas’ college students should be awarded $5,000 scholarships if they plan to attend 4-year colleges and $2,500 if they attend 2-year colleges. There’s also been talk about giving additional scholarship money to students already enrolled in college.

At first, the news media couldn’t seem to decide if the $5,000 scholarship was $5,000 per year or $5,000 total. The latest I’ve heard says it’s going to be $5,000 per year—$20,000 over the course of 4 years—but I wouldn’t be surprised if that number changes before it’s all said and done. That’s because I just can’t seem to make all of the Lottery Commission’s math work.


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