Molly Pahn is a senior at the University of Memphis and one of 1,100 students statewide who hit the 120-hour cap on the lottery scholarship prior to graduation. Credit: Blake Farmer/WPLN

Tennessee officials have been socking away state *lottery proceeds for a rainy day that has yet to come. And a few lawmakers have become increasingly irritated at the reluctance to spend any of the growing reserve fund on some of the state’s most motivated college students.

Those at Tennessee’s public colleges taking 18-hours a semester will reach their final term only to get bad news. They have exceeded the 120-hour cap on lottery scholarships. The limit was put in place in 2011 to keep recipients from taking too many unnecessary classes.

“I have a 3.7 GPA,” says senior Molly Pahn at the University of Memphis. “I have made the dean’s list every semester since I’ve been there. Why should I have my funding cut off if I’m supposed to be an investment in the state?”

Pahn, a double major in French and political science with a minor in women’s studies, says she had to take out additional student loans after discovering she has exhausted her $2,000 per semester.

This spring she interned at the Tennessee General Assembly, as lawmakers decided against spending more on lottery scholarships for the 1,100 students who hit the cap each year before completing their studies.

“I just don’t think they’re actually thinking about the individual students that it affects,” she says.

For the last two years, Republican state Senator Doug Overbey of Maryville has been trying to fix what he sees as a glitch. It would cost an additional $2.4 million to pay the final semester.

The Money Is There

The lottery reserve fund has amassed $373 million. That’s enough to fund all of the roughly 74,000 scholarships for a year and then some. Several lawmakers have pointed out that the lottery has more money set aside than the entire state does for its annual spending of $33 billion.

Overbey says the state owes it to students to see them through to graduation.

“Sometimes it’s easy to lose sight,” he says. “We all want to be fiscally responsible. But allowing students eight semesters regardless of the number of credit hours they have is not being fiscally irresponsible.”

Overbey’s GOP colleagues see it differently, saying a line has to be drawn somewhere.

“Before too long, you have the proverbial Christmas tree,” Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixon) says. “The reality is the lottery cannot do what everyone wants.”

This year lawmakers did approve additional spending of roughly $200,000 to provide scholarships for disabled students to attend life skills programs.

The Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation, which oversees the spending of lottery revenues, has warned against dipping into the reserve account, as big as it may be.

TSAC officials say the actual sales of lottery tickets don’t quite pay for the total lottery scholarship costs. Some of the $16 million in interest earned off the reserves last year went to cover the difference.

But some legislators say finance officials are just making excuses.

“We can find a reason not to spend this money,” says Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle (D-Memphis. “If you want to say you’re saving the lottery, that’s fine.”