Thursday, December 30, 2010
Arkansas Lottery Those lottery riches
Posted by Max Brantley on Thu, Dec 30, 2010 at 11:31 AM
No decision yet, but words were uttered at the Capitol today about trimming back the amount of lottery scholarships. Maybe by $500 per year.
More demand from qualifying students may mean less money per scholarship. Unless we can figure out ways to separate more people from more money at the lottery ticket windows.
Love the lottery, if you must. Love the scholarship money — certainly if you're a beneficiary. Just don't kid yourself about this being a bonanza for universities.
There was a telling figure in the paper today in the discussion of tying Arkansas college funding to performance — such as graduation rates. In the 10 years ending 2008-09, the amount of money provided by the state toward a full-time student's education dropped from 62 percent to 49 percent of the cost. That share will continue to drop, despite the constitutional requirement that lottery money not reduce the state's spending on colleges. In raw dollars, if spending is $1 more from one year to the next, the Constitution is satisfied. But students will still get farther and farther behind as increasing costs and tuition and fees outstrip everything else, including a lottery scholarship award that seems likely to similarly decline in value over time. $5,000 (or less) next year won't be worth nearly as much in 2020.
Perhaps Ernie P. has a solution. That's why we're paying him the big bucks, right?
PS — The hateful Family Council strikes with an I-told-you-so news release about the talk of reduction in scholarship assistance. They oppose the lottery on religious grounnds and good for them if that's their thing. But it is disingenuous by a lot to suggest cutting lottery pay would have much impact on scholarship amounts. The reason only 22 percent is paid out in winnings is that the most significant portion of the rest is paid in winnings to keep the suckers coming back.
PPS — Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, driving force behind the lottery's creation, notes that good factors could be contributing to the situation, specifically more people receiving scholarships and more heading to more expensive four-year colleges. His statement:
Lieutenant Governor Halter’s position has always been to provide maximum possible scholarship awards to maximum numbers of Arkansas students with fiscal responsibility. The Scholarship Lottery has produced more scholarship dollars than we projected. This is good news. More scholarships were awarded this year than the Arkansas Department of Higher Education projected. This is more good news. A greater portion of lottery scholarship recipients are going to 4-year institutions than the Arkansas Department of Higher Education projected. This is still more good news. The Scholarship Lottery is only 15 months old and the first scholarships are only now being utilized. All relevant data needs to be made public in evaluating future scholarship amounts because this issue is of vital financial interest to tens of thousands of Arkansas families and merits a thorough public discussion.
Speaking of...
-
Nate Bell would require scholarship repayments if degrees not earned
April 25, 2012Good catch by Michael Cook, following Facebook posts by Rep. Nate Bell, a Tea Party Republican from Mena. /more/
- More »
Comments (29)
Showing 1-29 of 29
A problem I've faced all my life is needing 200 dollars and only coming up with 175. If the operation on your toe costs 1000 and you can only dig up 800.....you might as well have zero dollars.
Reducing the Arkansas scholarships by a thousand will trim the number of Arkansas students who'll get to go to college......period. It was hard as hell for mag and I to come up with the 1800 dollars needed to bridge the gap between the scholarships our kid got and the actual cost of living in Fayetteville and going to the U of A.
Once again it looks like the Arkansas Plantation owners are trying to pull the rug out from under Arkansas educational opportunities. Why should I be surprised...they've been doing it since 1836. Apparently Blanche Lincoln supporters are worried about where they'll get the future low-wage slaves they'll need to work on the Plantation. Though it may be true in the future, I doubt there's many people with masters degrees standing at the front door hollering Welcome to Wal-Mart!
Forget Land of Opportunity..our motto should be Keep em Barefoot & Pregnant and Down On the Farm Forever!
like
dislike
Naturally I have a conservative, free-market alternative for increasing the ASL proceeds. This THE Walmart state so we learn from example and who can knock success!
We've paid for political cronyism long enough, everything is in place and working.
Overpaid hires must go. Walmart would do it in a New York minute. Bottom line dictates that we do no less. Like Walmart ASL employment is not a lifetime safe haven.
Then the real stimulus and incentive will come when ALL state taxes are removed from Lottery winnings. More people will play if they KNOW that Beebe and the State of Arkansas won't be there to pluck 7% from your winnings.
Other income streams from government sources are tax free. Consider municipal bonds and state bonds. If you hold enough of them then you live tax free in the Land of the Free. The state gives tax free stimulus to business and those folks pay no tax on state giveaways which are the same as income.
Lottery winnings should not be taxed. The math would be simple. Just keep the payout the same. When more people know they will get it tax free more will play.
The problem is that politicians love to give away money, so they lower the standards so that everyone get's a scholarship. Scholarship normally implies achieving a special level of achievement in grades and/or standardized test scores. Otherwise call it what it is - college student welfare/grants.
What the lottery needs is a loyalty rewards program. When you buy your ticket your id is scanned which indicates your preferred demographic group for receiving the "scholarship" proceeds. Then the lottery money is awarded proportionally to the wishes of those who spend the money on lottery tickets. If the money is coming out of the pockets of the poor, then let them designate that the money go to the poor. Rich liberals could also send their money to the poor. Those not bothering to have loyalty cards would by default vote for equal distribution to all - i.e. the status quo.
“The hateful Family Council . . . oppose[s] the lottery on religious grounnds and good for them.”
Oh, my. Please tell me I’m dreaming this.
"Otherwise call it what it is - college student welfare/grants."
I have no problem with this at all.
I don't care what you call it as long as people who are want to further their educations are able to do so.
In 1992, there were 5.1 million “underemployed” college graduates in the United States. In 2008, there were 17 million “underemployed” college graduates in the United States. In this number more than 24% of retail sales is held by people with a college degree.
Since 1982 college tuition has gone up over 400% while the cost of medical care has gone up only 200%.
How many students will get a college degree in a field in which they will never be employed?
Can lottery scholarships go to pay for kids to learn to be plumbers, electricians, welders auto mechanics, and other skilled professions?
Durango,
I should have been clearer. I meant to say about Family Council only that I get the religious objection, though I don't share it. But they should stick to that and not start misuing data and offering other interpretations of results for convenience's sake.
The lottery laws need an individual mandate in order for the system to work. Every Arkansan should be required by law to purchase lottery tickets. Otherwise, only the gamblers are paying into the system, and that's not fair.
eLwood - I'd rather pay taxes than buy a lottery ticket that chiefly benefits Ernie Passailaigue and his henchmen.
Ah, the Lottery. The opposition stays alive. Refusing to accept the State's Motto as being viable.
1). The last count I had, 21 states have the Initiative and the Referendum. Arkansas is one of those lucky 21 states. Professional politicians scorn the idea of people initiating legislation and having legislation referred to the masses. Such thinking goes against the notion by the elitists and professional politicians they alone know better than the people what they really want and deserve.
This lottery so despised by some was voted on and endorsed by the voters of this state. It violates no constitutional issues. Get over it. Live with the peoples' decision.
2). Voluntary taxation. This week a NLR person spent two dollars on the Mega Million jackpot and although he/she didn't hit the jackpot they did win one million dollars.
The central government will get $250,000 in taxes, the state will get $70,000 in taxes, and local governments, along with the state government, will receive sales tax revenue from items purchased by the lucky winner. No one forced the buyer to spend that two dollars. No one held a gun to that person's head with demands the ticket be purchased.
3). The People Rule. I remember seeing that or heard of that somewhere in the state of Arkansas. Need hints?
"eLwood - I'd rather pay taxes than buy a lottery ticket that chiefly benefits Ernie Passailaigue and his henchmen."
See, here's where I don't get this argument. Taxes you HAVE to pay (you know, die & pay taxes?) Everybody has to pay taxes, and, frankly, some people get no enjoyment out of that at all. Buying a lottery ticket is a voluntary action. You don't have to buy one if you don't want to. (Much the same way that, if gay marriage is legal, you don't HAVE to marry someone of the same sex.) Why do so many people think they should have a say-so in what other people do with their friggin' money?
OK. Lemme have it. But, please, try to address the question in the process.
In 1977 UA tuition was $140 for up to 18 hours. By the time I finished in 82 it was up to $240.
Even that took Pell Grants and loans to live. I transferred to UALR to finish because jobs were easier to find for a student.
Today on NPR students were stating a fact that college degrees are just about a requirement these days but then they twisted that idea and said $40 grand a year required students to get deep in debt to earn a degree.
I say BS! True there are colleges where it costs 40 grand and up but there are plenty where it costs half that.
I agree a degree is nearly a requirement ythese days (I require 4 year of those I hire) but a big ticket private one is not.
If you CHOOSE to go to a school you can't afford, don't bitch to me. If you can't afford it at 18 years old. Get a good degree then go back and get a better one when you can afford it.
Ever heard of a starter home? Do the same with a starter degree. The way times are changing continuing education is going to be needed even from Ivy League degrees.
Rick - I'm not opposed to lotteries, casinos, etc. per se, I just don't think the state should be in the business of operating them.
I don't particularly like paying taxes either, but obviously it is necessary. I feel a lot better about paying taxes to the state rather than the federal government. If I were the king, I'd turn the tax systems upside-down, dramatically cutting the federal taxes and raising state taxes. That would cut out an unnecessary and expensive level of bureaucracy, and allow us to use taxpayer dollars more efficiently. When we send our money to Washington and have to beg them to send it back, it comes with a lot of strings attached. It's a crazy way to run a country.
Citizen1 brings up a right good point. I swear going to college and getting scholarships and loans wasn't such a BFD process back in my time. We took the ACT and we only took it once. no one EVER suggested to us that we might do better if we took summer prep classes and then retook the test. Of course, the fact that our high school counselor's system of advising students on how to pick a college was, and I aint makin this stuff up, giving the student a big cardboard box with college brochures in it up to HERE. Not many people from small towns like mine were really considering going to college at Emory or the U of Georgia or Vassar or, if you were a boy, Harvard. she hadn't even so much as opened a single one.
But that was it. If you wanted to go to Hendrix but your scholarships and your mom and dad's help would only pay for *_____, your choices were pretty slim. You went to *______(any public college nearby). Nobody borrowed the equivalent of $150,000.00 back then just to go to grad school after college was paid for and done!
lots of parents said, If you want to go to Fedvul, then you go to Tech for the first two years and see how you like college and if you pass, little details like that. THEN we can sit down and work on a plan for you to go to Fedvul for your last two years. Just like a starter home.
of course you might lose a few kids who wanted to study things at Fedvul that weren't available at Whatever Tech and would drop out entirely. that's ok, they have plenty of time to grow up and change their minds and pay their own way.
I have never bought a lottery ticket but I don't care what anyone else does, as long as the babies are fed and have new shoes first. it just doesn't interest me.
I think the state could build up a huge amount of good will toward the lottery from people like me and my hard-working friends and neighbors if they'd get rid of Ernie and his ridiculously highly paid staff. They were hired to do startup. They did it. Now go back to the insane asylum that is South Carolina, hire someone at a comparable local salary for running it, and people might not resent the lottery quite so much.
What's his hold on everybody else, anyway? you might even wonder, if you were cynical, who's helping Ernie stay on in his cushy job and how much he is showing his gratitude to them.
The second most foolhardy thing said about the lottery is that it’s a “tax” on the poor. I mean, gimme a break. Please.
The single most reckless allegation, however, is that the lotto preys upon and takes unfair advantage of the uneducated and the dirt poor, particularly the minority population. The claim is a patent, parroted myth.
You don't think so? Well, take a look at the link here and scroll through 55 pages of Arkansas's lotto winners. Do these people look dirt poor and severely lacking in education to you? Really?
The winners (representative of the overwhelming majority of those I’ve witnessed buying tickets in every section of the state) are predominantly white and appear to be anything but “uneducated and dirt poor.”
http://myarkansaslottery.com/winners
The holier than thou among us who oppose the lotto are free to continue doing so, of course. However, they should search for reasons more truthful than the worn out and untrue “tax on the uneducated and poor” nonsense.
Oh, and this: I'm still looking for even the slightest piece of evidence that the Arkansas lotto has caused a big jump in gambling addiction. Or even a slight jump. Or any increase at all.
I always thought that the lottery was a tax on people that are bad at math. I play occasionally myself (maybe twice a month) and hope to take advantage of the scholarship too.
But Durango, the stock market preys upon the weak who are seeking wealth and..............naw, I've got the wrong attitude, don't I?
http://www.chicagoreporter.com/index.php/c…
http://www.accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?ar…
http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/167…
Righto, Cato: Everything's a gamble. Even getting in your car every morning.
And to quote Rick (who is correct):
(1) Taxes you HAVE to pay (you know, die & pay taxes?) Everybody has to pay taxes . . .
(2) Buying a lottery ticket is a voluntary action. You don't have to buy one if you don't want to.
Thus (I would add) if you don’t buy a lotto ticket, you don’t pay the make-believe “tax.”
It’s just that simple, folks.
The suggestion of expanding the pool of recipents to include those clearly qualified to attend a bonifide trade school is an excellent one. I very seriously wondered about that my self and would strongly support an effort to establish scholarships for such a purpose.
Re: Needing a $1000 operation but only having $800 to pay for it. Been there and done that! You have to do what ever it take to find the other $200 sell your blood, beg or even steal if necessary - just get it done. Then you really appreciate the operation.
I bought lottery tickets in Missouri & helped their children with higher education. When the state of Oklahoma opened their lottery I helped with higher education in that state. Now with the lottery in Arkansas I'm helping our own with their education.
The only problem is Arkansas should have gotten off the dime much sooner .
How could anyone suggest the lottery intentionally pay out money at a rate that would cause it to not be able to meet its obligations in two years.
If they only have the money to pay a certain amount for a certain number, then so be it. Cut the payment to something fiscally responsible.
I agree with musturtle and I'd imagine most reasonable people do. There are steps that can and need to be taken to prevent the amount from dropping.
Cutting Ernie P and company is one such step.
Also, maybe a graduated amount would be better. Right now if a student scores a 19 ACT with 2.5 GPA, he gets the same amount as the student who gets a 31 with 4.2 GPA. Granted, the latter will receive more scholarship money elsewhere, but an 18/2.5 isn't exactly an accomplishment. For that matter, I'd consider raising the requirement to at least 20 GPA.
No, apparently the state is filled with teenagers who can barely pass in third and fourth rate high schools will suddenly bloom when exposed to living in dorms and having triple the distractions.
Any kid who can't score an 18, a 2.5 and pass proficiency exams should spend a couple of years in a local Jr. College. Don't mind lottery money paying for it, but wouldn't clog up the universities with kids who can't show mastery of high school level material.
I think we can all agree that providing funding for education is a good thing. The real problem is that when state governments establish a lottery they do so in a manner where they can get their hands on the money to use for other purposes. When times get hard, and state revenues are down, the politicians begin to scramble to find other sources of revenue, and the lottery funds are a prime target. When times get better, and the normal revenues return, they continue to attach the lottery monies. That's just how things operate it seems.
More by Author
-
Huntsman: GOP like China
Jon Huntsman, the Republican former governor of Utah, nailed modern Republican politics in remarks Sunday.
- Apr 23, 2012
-
Slowing the rise in health care spending
Nobody's declaring victory yet, but there are enormous implications in the finding reported today that something may be finally arresting the rise in health care spending.
- Apr 29, 2012
- More »
Event Calendar
-
Re: Hurst fined again by bar committee for late filing
santhony
The partisan view expressed in all your comments invalidates any opinion you may…- on May 24, 2012
-
Re: Riverfest eve open line UPDATE
speaking of Warren..why is he allowing First Tee to close its Little Rock course for…
- on May 24, 2012
-
Re: Riverfest eve open line UPDATE
I have several friends who work for the Stephens newspapers in Northwest Arkansas. I hope…
- on May 24, 2012
Top Commenters
Blogroll
Slideshows
-
Police close the Occupy Little Rock camp, perhaps the last Occupy encampment on public land.
Site Index
News
Cover Story / Arkansas Reporter / The Week That Was / Smart Talk / The Insider / The Observer / Editorial / Max Brantley / Ernest Dumas / Gene Lyons / Bob Lancaster / Words / Guest Writer / Letters
Entertainment
A&E Feature / To-Do List / In Brief / Movie Reviews / Music Reviews / Theater Reviews / A&E News / Art Notes / Graham Gordy / Books / Media / Dining Reviews / Dining Guide / What's Cookin' / Calendar / The Televisionist / Movie Listings / Gallery Listings
This Week's Cover
Quick Links
Special Publications
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
