It doesn’t happen everyday, but sometimes someone comes up with a great idea that’s good for everyone. The Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE) started a scholarship lottery recently, which reached $100 million in sales in just 71 days. A full $25 million of that is going directly to scholarships. An application for the scholarship is expected to be posted on the ADHE Web site by January 1.

Fantastic Financial Aid

This idea really impressed me. In a time when scholarships and grants are drying up and loans are tough to come by, Arkansas really did something special with this. Not only have they raised a full $25 million, there’s actually a lottery–with a sizable cash prize–to go along with it! For once, people can actually feel good about buying a lottery ticket.

Scholarships are a huge part of nearly every student’s plan for college education. They provide the funding that helps bring education to everyone, not just the extremely rich. Without this extra funding, who knows where we’d be as a culture without scholarships. Bill Clinton, for one, might not have made it quite as far without his Rhodes’ scholarship.

Financial aid is sometimes taken for granted, but its existence is implied in the classic “You can be anything you want when you grow up” attitude we preach to our youngsters. Scholarships, grants, even loans–they’re all a part of what makes transcending classes in America possible. When you’ve got a chance, donate. When it’s time to go back to school, apply. Going back to school is expensive, but it’s worth it–to everyone.