TN Hope Scholarship Program

Scholarship Information and Requirements 

The Tennessee HOPE Scholarship Program provides scholarship and grant assistance to Tennesseans attending eligible Tennessee postsecondary institutions. The purpose of the program is to provide access for Tennesseans to post-secondary education, to improve high school and collegiate academic achievement, to keep more of the best and brightest students in Tennessee, and to provide social and economic benefits to the state of Tennessee.

Signed into law by Governor Bredesen on June 11, 2003 the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship (TELS) program became the seventh broad-based scholarship program to be funded by state lottery revenues. Since the inception of the Georgia HOPE Scholarship program in 1993, six southeastern states and New Mexico have created a state lottery with earmarked proceeds or redirected existing lottery funds for postsecondary education scholarships. 

The Tennessee Higher Education Commission is required by statute, to evaluate the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship program. THEC will provide an annual report based on research and data analysis. This report, presented to the General Assembly before the second Tuesday in January of each year, will include findings on student success, scholarship retention, and other relevant indicators. The baseline report will be available online upon submission to the General Assembly.

For more information about the HOPE scholarships please visit the www.tn.gov/CollegePays/ website.