At Senate Hearing, Alexander Praises Nashville Native Derrica Donelson, a Lipscomb University Student Earning Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in 5-Year Program

Washington, D.C., April 17 – At a hearing Tuesday of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Ranking Member U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), praised Nashville native and Lipscomb University student Derrica Donelson, who is earning a bachelor’s and Master’s degree in five years, saying Donelson’s careful decision-making about her college education suggest she’ll “be a great success.”

“I am pleased to introduce Derrica Donelson, a student at Lipscomb University in Nashville. She’s 23, she was born in Nashville, raised by a single working mother, attended Martin Luther King Magnet School. She’s scheduled to graduate in August with both a bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in accounting. We look forward to hearing from her about the informed choices she made as she selected among colleges. She didn’t go to the least expensive college she could have gone to. She made a careful decision about where she wanted to go and she’s been successful.”

Alexander praised Donelson for the care with which she made her college decision, saying: “It sounds like you spent a lot of time making an informed decision and if you’re that comfortable with it, you’ll probably be a great success.”

Donelson told the committee that she likely could not have attended Lipscomb without the Tennessee HOPE Scholarship, and that the goal of attaining the scholarship helped drive her to work hard in high school and maintain a high GPA.

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