WTC Lottery Tuition Assistance Recipients Attend State House Rally

Williamsburg Technical College students recently joined hundreds of SC Technical College system students at the State House in Columbia to show their support and appreciation for the Lottery Tuition Assistance (LTA) program.

The group represented a fraction of the nearly 285,000 technical college students who have benefited from LTA funds since its inception. The 16 technical colleges across the state educate more than half of all undergraduate students in the state, 96 percent of which are SC residents and 90% of which remain in the state after graduation.

WTC student Vivian Anderson (left) says she simply couldn’t attend college without the assistance the Lottery Tuition Assistance program affords her.  Anderson took care of her grandparents, then tended to her husband during his decline toward death just last fall.  Even in the midst of all the turmoil, she continued her studies hoping to complete a nursing degree one day so she could take care of people even better.

The LTA program was created by the General Assembly in 2002 for public two-year institutions. Unlike merit-based lottery-funded aid, award amounts are not guaranteed from semester to semester, and fluctuate based on lottery collections and the demand.

In attendance at the rally in addition to Anderson were: (from left, front) Margie Dawkins from Greeleyville, Chalaan Wiggins from Salters, Clarice Floyd from Cades, Vivian Anderson from Lake City; (back), WTC Director of Records and Registration Alexis Wright, WTC Admissions Counselor Cheryl Dubose, WTC Interim President Cheryl Cox, and Ivory Cooper from Hemingway.