The Tennessee Promise, administered by the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation, is a last-dollar scholarship and mentorship program available for Tennessee's high school graduates to attend two years of secondary education.[1] This program began as a component of Governor Bill Haslam's "Drive to 55" initiative, which set the statewide goal of 55% of Tennesseans possessing a college degree or certificate by 2025.[2] Tennessee (TN) Promise recipients are able to use their scholarship at any of Tennessee's 13 community colleges and 27 colleges of applied technology.[1]


History

In 2008, Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale approached then Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam with a non-profit organization that would cover gaps in tuition coverage at community colleges and technical schools for local high school students.[3] KnoxAchieves, a non-profit dedicated to providing a last-dollar scholarship and mentorship program for low-income incoming college freshman, was initiated in Knox County in 2008 and later expanded to the statewide program TnAchieves.[4] In May 2014, legislation passed creating the TN Promise scholarship and mentorship program based upon these previous initiatives; as a last-dollar scholarship, TN Promise covers all tuition and fees which exceed the student's previously granted scholarships and aid such as the Tennessee HOPE Scholarship and the Federal Pell grant.[4] The first cohort of the program began their classes in fall 2015. The increase in attendance at Tennessee's two-year institutions as a result of TN Promise is estimated to be on average 40%.[5]

The TN Promise program received nationwide attention with the states of Oregon, Rhode Island, and New York since creating similar programs.[6] In 2015, President Barack Obama visited east Tennessee's Pellissippi State Community College to promote affordable higher education initiatives, notably America's College Promise, a nationwide program based on TN Promise.[7] More recently in fall 2020, the University of Tennessee began UT Promise which provides free tuition for students with household incomes of less than $50,000 per year.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b "About". tn.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  2. ^ "Governor's Drive to 55". Tennessee Board of Regents. 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  3. ^ "Bill Haslam's free community college plan and how Tennessee is grabbing the spotlight in higher education policy". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  4. ^ a b "How Tennessee Promise got its start". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  5. ^ Nguyen, Hieu (October 2020). "Free college? Assessing enrollment responses to the Tennessee Promise program". Labour Economics. 66: 101882. doi:10.1016/j.labeco.2020.101882. ISSN 0927-5371. S2CID 224874521.
  6. ^ Tamburin, Adam. "Tennessee Promise inspires national trend". The Tennessean. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  7. ^ "Timeline: President Obama visits East Tennessee". WBIR-TV. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  8. ^ Gonzales, Jason. "University of Tennessee to launch free college program that mirrors successful Promise, Reconnect programs". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
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