Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship Legislation

The following TELS legislation became effective on July 1, 2005:

  1. Sixteen month rule – This allows students to delay enrollment in college for up to 16 months after high school graduation without losing their eligibility for the TELS awards.

  2. Out-of-state return – This allows students who attend out-of-state colleges to transfer back to eligible TN colleges and receive TELS funding. Students must meet the HOPE Scholarship requirements for transfer students from out-of-state regionally accredited institutions. The student must have enrolled at the out-of-state institution within 16 months from the date of high school graduation, maintained continuous enrollment without dropping from full-time or part-time enrollment within a semester, and maintained the HOPE Scholarship academic benchmark requirements.

  3. Regain option – This allows students to regain their scholarship if it was lost from failure to maintain the required TELS GPA. This can only be used once. These students must also have maintained continuous enrollment, met satisfactory academic progress, and not drop enrollment status (full-time to part-time) without prior permission from the Institutional Review Panel (IRP). To request the Regain Option, students must complete the “TN Hope Scholarship Appeal” form located in MyCN.

  4. Repeat option – This allows students to re-take one course and allow only the highest grade to count for their TELS GPA. The hours for both courses will still count towards the maximum TELS attempted hours. This will not have any impact on the student’s Columbia State GPA. This option can only be used one time. To request the Repeat Option, students must complete the “TN Hope Scholarship Appeal” form located in MyCN.

  5. Exceptions for less than ½ enrollment. Students can receive the Hope Scholarship for less than 6 credit hours under the following circumstances:

      Less than 6 credit hours are needed to graduate.
      The course program of study requires less than 6 credit hours in the semester.

    To request the Hope Scholarship for less than 6 credit hours students must complete the “TN Hope Scholarship Appeal” form located in MyCN

  6. Tennessee Hope Foster Child Tuition Grant– This allows students who entered state custody of the Department of Children’s Services any time after reaching age 13 and meet Hope Scholarship requirements to receive additional funding. This grant covers any tuition and fees not covered by other scholarships and grants. This is for public institutions only.

  7. Dual Enrollment Grant – This allows students who are still in high school to receive a grant while participating in a dual enrollment program. These students must be TN residents for at least 1 year prior to receipt of the grant. They must also maintain a 2.00 GPA in the dual enrollment courses to retain eligibility. Hours and grades earned in this program will have no impact on future TELS eligibility.