Lottery Scholarship Appeal:  Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Need information about the appeal process? Visit the main Lottery Scholarship Appeals webpage!

Still have questions about the appeal process? Click on your question below:

Who should not submit a Lottery Scholarship Appeal?
Can I appeal in person or speak to the committee?
What is an "extenuating circumstance"?
What documentation should I submit?
When will the committee meet? When will I receive the decision?
Can I still submit an appeal after the semester starts?
How will I be notified of the appeal decision?
If my appeal is denied, can I still receive my lottery scholarship?
If my appeal is approved, when will I receive my lottery scholarship?
If my appeal is denied, can I submit a new appeal?
If my appeal is denied, how can I regain eligibility for my scholarship?
If I have a question, who should I contact?

Who should not submit a Lottery Scholarship Appeal?
This may not be the correct process for you, depending on why you lost eligibility:

Failure to Meet Initial Academic Requirements: If you do not meet the initial GPA and/or ACT requirements for the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship, you will not be able to appeal, even if you feel that extenuating circumstances prevented you from meeting the requirements.

Failure to Meet Renewal GPA Requirements: If you do not meet the continuing eligibility requirements in regard to GPA, you will not be able to appeal, even if you feel that extenuating circumstances prevented you from meeting the requirements. However, you may be able to regain eligibility in a future semester by raising your GPA. Please visit the "Regain Provision" section of our lottery website for more information. (If you also have an enrollment issue, you may appeal the enrollment issue now, but even if your appeal is approved, your scholarship will not be reinstated until you also regain the necessary GPA.)

Exceeding the Allowable Hours or Years: If you exceed 180 attempted hours, you will not be able to appeal, even if you feel that extenuating circumstances prevented you from meeting the requirements. However, you may be able to qualify for additional hours, if you are pursuing a major which requires more than 120 hours for all students in the program; please contact Melanie Collins for more information, if you believe this may apply to you. If you exceed 5 years or complete your bachelor degree, you will not be able to appeal, even if you feel that extenuating circumstances prevented you from meeting the requirements.

Other Non-Appealable Ineligibility Factors: According to state regulations, you will not be able to file an appeal regarding your residency status (except in cases of military service), your ability to qualify for the Aspire supplement if your parents earned over $36,000 according to the FAFSA, or your ability to qualify for the Aspire or Merit supplements if you qualify for the lottery scholarship as a non-traditional student.

Can I appeal in person or speak to the committee?
No, you will not have the opportunity to present your appeal to the committee. Instead, the committee will review your appeal and make a decision based on your academic record, your personal statement, and the documentation you provide (if you are appealing based on extenuating circumstances). This means it is very important that your appeal include all of the details (and documentation, if applicable) we will need to make a fair decision!

What is an "extenuating circumstance"?
An extenuating circumstance is a situation beyond your control which prevented you from being able to pass a sufficient number of classes. Extenuating circumstances may include (but are not limited to) having a severe illness or extensive hospitalization which limited your ability to perform life tasks (such as attending classes), a family member having a severe illness which required your presence for a significant amount of time, a death of an immediate family member which impacted you significantly enough to affect class attendance or participation, or extreme financial hardship which prevented you from attending classes or completing coursework.

Generally, the situation must have occurred after the semester began. If your extenuating circumstance first occurred before the semester started and you chose to enroll anyway, you will need to explain what changed after the start of the term which affected your ability to remain in or pass your classes.

What documentation should I submit? The documentation you submit will depend on your individual situation. The suggestions below include documents which may help you support your appeal; however, this is not a comprehensive list. You should provide any documentation you feel supports your appeal and shows

1. that you had extenuating circumstances during the semester(s) that you didn't meet lottery scholarship requirements,
2. how those circumstances would have affected your ability to meet lottery scholarship requirements, and
3. that these circumstances have been resolved, so that you can now meet lottery scholarship requirements.

If you are appealing because of	You may want to submit
Severe illness of family member	A doctor's statement which addresses each of the above three items
Sever illness of family member	A doctor's statement which addresses each of the above three items and which provides information about the student's involvement in the situation
Extreme financial hardship	Please contact Melanie Collins to determine what documentation to provide, as the state requires very specific documents
A death in the family	Documentation which names the deceased and lists you as a survivor, such as an obituary, news article, or funeral program
Other extenuating circumstances	Documentation will vary widely depending on the circumstance, but must address each of the above three items

 

When will the committee meet? When will I receive the decision?
MTSU's Institutional Review Panel (IRP) meets six times a year to review appeals; appeals can be submitted no more than 14 business days before each scheduled meeting. For upcoming IRP meeting dates and appeal submission deadlines, please visit our Lottery Scholarship webpage. You may submit your appeal to the Scholarship Office (mail to MTSU Box 31, hand-deliver to JUB 206, or fax to 615-494-7770) within the three weeks before a committee date listed on the above website but no later than the stated deadline. (For example, if you wish to submit an appeal for the October 13 committee meeting, you can submit the appeal between September 22 and October 10.) You will be able to view the decision approximately one week after the meeting date, via RaiderNet (see below). Additionally, you will receive a response via your permanent mailing address approximately two weeks after the meeting date.

How will I be notified of the appeal decision?
You can view your appeal results in RaiderNet, within one week after the committee meets:

• Log into PipelineMT
• Click on the RaiderNet tab
• Click on the Financial Aid tab
• Click on "Eligibility"
• Click on "Student Requirements"
• Look for the "Lottery Appeal" item
• The "Status" column will tell you whether your appeal was approved or denied (Until your appeal is reviewed, the "Status" column will show that your appeal has been received but not processed.)

You will receive additionally receive notification via your permanent mailing address, approximately two weeks after the committee meets. The official notification letter will provide more information about the appeal decision and your current eligibility status.

Please note that an appeal can only be submitted in regard to enrollment issues, such as withdrawing for a semester. If you lost eligibility because of both enrollment issues and low GPA, you will not be able to regain the scholarship until you have appealed the enrollment problem and have brought your GPA up to the required level at a future 24-hour bracket.

If my appeal is denied, can I still receive my lottery scholarship?
No, if your appeal is denied, or if you choose not to appeal, you will not be eligible to receive the lottery scholarship. However, if you lost eligibility due to GPA, you may be able to regain the award later. Please visit the "Regain Provision" section of our lottery website for more information.

If my appeal is approved, when will I receive my scholarship?
If you receive a letter indicating that your appeal has been approved and that you are eligible to receive scholarship funds, you will generally see your scholarship applied to your account within three business days. If the award results in a credit balance, you may be eligible to receive a direct deposit refund approximately one week later or at the beginning of the upcoming semester (as applicable).

If you receive a letter indicating that your appeal has been approved but that you are not currently eligible to receive scholarship funds because of your GPA, you will not receive the lottery scholarship until you are also meeting GPA requirements. You will need to work on regaining eligibility through the Regain Option; please visit the "Regain Provision" section of our lottery website for more information.

If my appeal is denied, can I submit a new appeal?
If your appeal is denied, you will have the opportunity to appeal to a state-level appeal panel. Your denial letter will include information about this option.

If my appeal is denied, how can I regain eligibility for my scholarship?
If you lost eligibility because you didn't meet enrollment requirements, you will not be able to regain eligibility except through the appeal process as noted above. However, if you lost eligibility due to GPA, you may be able to regain the award later, as long as you continue to meet all other eligibility requirements. Please visit the "Regain Provision" section of our lottery website for more information.

If I have a question, who should I contact?
If you have a question about the appeal process or the documentation you need to provide (if applicable), you should speak with Bill McCord or Melanie Collins.

We will unfortunately not be able to answer any questions about why your appeal was approved or denied. The committee will make a decision based on state regulations and the information you submitted, and will not be able to discuss the decision. If you feel that you did have extenuating circumstances but did not submit sufficient documentation, please see the section above titled "If my appeal is denied, can I submit a new appeal?"

Questions?  Please contact us!

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