Alabama Students Deserve an Education Lottery

Guest Opinion by Dr. John Dickey

I am living proof that lottery-funded education can make college more affordable for working-class families. Let me explain.

I grew up in a small town in Tennessee close to the state line. My family wasn't wealthy. My dad became a farmer after his freshman year of college because his father died and someone had to take care of the farm. He had wanted to become a pastor. I know there was, at some point, a desire for me to take over the farm from my dad and uncle, but I couldn't. I could see the physical toll that farming had taken on my dad, and I knew I couldn't put myself through that.

When I graduated high school in 2003, I faced two options. One was to put my 5-foot-3, 100-pound frame through the physical strain I had watched my dad endure. The other was college. But I needed help to make college affordable.

That same year, Tennessee approved a lottery and created the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship program. I started at a community college while the Tennessee legislature was deciding who would be eligible for the new HOPE Scholarship. At the time, they were looking at starting the program with high school graduates from 2004.

So I wrote an email to each of the legislators on the committee working on the HOPE Scholarship and asked them to make the Class of 2003 eligible for this assistance. My effort paid off, and the Class of 2003 was included in the new HOPE Scholarship program.

I was fortunate enough to receive a small transfer scholarship, but I primarily relied on the HOPE Scholarship when I moved on from community college to the University of Memphis.

That had an impact beyond simply paying my tuition bill. I didn't need money from home because my tuition was paid for. The money I had saved for college could instead be used for graduate school. The scholarship gave me more options for moving forward with my life. It wasn't just about earning a degree. It was about having the financial flexibility to decide what came next.

So thank you to the Alabamians who came to Ardmore or Park City to play the lottery. Thank you for the opportunities the lottery gave other students and me. While Alabamians participate regularly in the Tennessee lottery, Alabama's students don't currently get the assistance those dollars provide.

That being said, Alabama needs a lottery of its own.

Back when it still published the data, Tennessee's top three locations in terms of lottery sales were all in Ardmore. I understand that there are concerns about the morality of gambling, as well as legitimate concerns about gambling addiction. Those concerns deserve to be taken seriously. But those issues already exist in Alabama. As long as Alabama prohibits a state lottery, Alabamians will still play the lottery. The difference is that the revenue that could benefit students across our state is instead being spent on the other side of our state line.

We can follow the models found in Tennessee and Georgia, where lottery money is earmarked toward expanding educational opportunities. Alabama could use those revenues to help working-class students afford community college, technical education, and four-year universities.

While the leaders on the lottery in Alabama are Democrats, such as Philip Ensler, the people who pushed the HOPE Scholarship across the finish line in Tennessee were some of the more conservative Republican members of their state legislature.

Helping working-class families afford college isn't a Democratic or Republican idea. It's an affordability idea.

When I graduated high school, I needed to make a choice about what kind of future I could afford. The lottery-funded scholarship helped make that choice possible. It allowed me to pursue an education rather than a career path that was not right for me at the time.

I am living proof that lottery-funded education isn't just about paying a tuition bill. It can give a working-class kid the freedom to choose what comes next.

Alabama students deserve that same freedom.

Dr. John Dickey was born in Huntsville and grew up in a farming family in the Tennessee Valley. His background includes working cattle and teaching students of all ages.

Dickey earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Memphis before completing his master’s degree and doctorate in political science at the University of Tennessee. His teaching career has included work at the University of Tennessee, Indiana State University, Texas A&M University–Texarkana, Motlow State Community College and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s Space Camp.

Dickey has made education, job growth, affordable housing and access to health care key parts of his campaign. He is the Democratic nominee challenging Republican incumbent Sen. Arthur Orr in the Nov. 3 general election in District 3, which includes Morgan County and portions of Madison and Limestone counties. 

For more information about Dr. Dickey and his campaign, visit https://dickey4alabama.com.

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