The
Tennessee Promise allows high school students to earn an associate degree at
the state’s 13 community colleges, providing they are full-time students,
maintain a 2.0 grade-point average, meet regularly with a mentor in their field
of study, and complete at least eight hours of community service.
The
Promise helped community college enrollment jump 14% this fall, the first year
the program was offered statewide. Tennessee’s four-year institutions had to compete
with the free-tuition program, but enrollment figures still appear healthy.
“We
beefed up our efforts,” Glenda Glover, president of Tennessee State University,
Nashville, said in a report for Nashville Public Radio. “All of us have done
extra work, but it looks like we overdid it because TSU enrollment is up this
year.”
Enrollment
figures across the six Tennessee Board of Regents schools were flat, which was
actually an improvement over the trend of the last five years. Enrollment for
the University of Tennessee system slipped at UT Martin and Chattanooga, but UT
Knoxville reported one of its largest freshman classes ever.
