Tennessee Promise fulfilled
First crop of scholars earn their degrees
GALLATIN, Tenn. — Saturday marked a momentous day for Breanna Burchett, who earned her degree from Volunteer State Community College without accumulating a mountain of debt.
The Cookeville, Tenn., native was among the first large crop of Tennessee Promise students to graduate, about three years after Gov. Bill Haslam first unveiled the landmark scholarship program offering recent high school graduates the chance to go to community college tuition-free.
Burchett, who plans to become a physical therapist assistant, has a job lined up at a nursing home in Algood, Tenn., once she passes her license exam in July.
“I’m very excited and ready to get out there and work,” Burchett said.
More than 180 Tennessee Promise scholarship students were scheduled to graduate from Volunteer State with Burchett on Saturday. College President Jerry Faulkner marked the occasion by asking the scholarship students to rise during the college’s graduation ceremony at its Gallatin campus.
Faulkner said Volunteer State’s enrollment increased by about 800 students in 2015, the first year Tennessee Promise took effect. He said the main challenge of the scholarship program is ensuring students have the support and resources they need, when many are the first in their family to attend college.
“I think the whole concept of tuition-free college changed the conversation all across Tennessee,” Faulkner said. “Students and families that never dreamed they would be able to attend college now have that opportunity.”
Haslam proposed Tennessee Promise in 2014 and signed it into law later that year. It was the first in the nation to give high school students statewide the chance to attend community or technical college tuition-free — Oregon and New York are among the states that have moved to follow Tennessee’s example.
Requirements of the program include maintaining full-time enrollment, completing eight hours of community service per term enrolled and maintaining at least a 2.0 GPA.
Students began using the scholarship in 2015, and since then more than 33,000 students have enrolled in college through the program.
For Volunteer State graduate David “Nolan” Cornelius, Tennessee Promise helped him cut his student debt in half as he prepares to transfer to Austin Peay State University this fall with the goal of becoming an English teacher.
“Tennessee Promise allows you to get your general education classes out of the way completely for free,” Cornelius said. “Most people can live at home and you’re not having to worry about a food plan or where you’re going to get this or that. It saves a lot of expenses.”
Tennessee’s other community colleges are also celebrating their first swell of Tennessee Promise graduates this spring. Haslam marked the occasion Saturday by speaking at Cleveland State Community College’s graduation in East Tennessee.
Speaking directly to the Tennessee Promise students in the audience, Haslam reflected on his inspiration for the program.
“We needed to change our college-going culture in Tennessee. More Tennesseans have to believe that earning a certificate or degree beyond high school is not only possible but necessary,” Haslam said, according to his prepared remarks. “At the end of the day, there is no higher potential for providing more opportunity for our citizens than increasing access to high quality education.”
Mike Krause, who led Tennessee Promise from the beginning and now heads the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, reflected on the milestone in an interview between writing sessions for the speech he gave at the Pellissippi State Community College graduation in Knoxville.
“This is a special moment for the state,” Krause said. “We did something no one had done before.”
While colleges have counted hundreds of Tennessee Promise students among their graduates this month, it is still too soon to know exactly how many of the first class will graduate through the program. Scholarship rules allow students to take up to two and a half years to finish, meaning some members of the first class might graduate in December.
The early data has been encouraging, if not perfect.
Fifty-eight percent of Tennessee Promise students who started at a community college in fall 2015 were still in school this semester. Only 42 percent of their peers made it that far.
Education experts point to that higher retention rate as a sign that Tennessee Promise, and other scholarships like it, can work.
But, as the retention numbers indicate, a significant number of Tennessee Promise students dropped out before reaching the finish line. Krause said their struggles point to more work that needs to be done.
College-level coursework was the primary challenge for students who decided to leave, he said.
“If you show up to college not being prepared academically, that’s going to be a huge challenge,” Krause said. “We have amassed and deployed an incredible range of resources, but it’s still a hard leap to make.”
In addition, Krause said, the college entry process is still complicated by “too many choices, too many
“More Tennesseans have to believe that earning a certificate or degree beyond high school is not only possible but necessary.”
— TENNESSEE GOV. BILL HASLAM
chances to make the wrong choice and really not enough emphasis on the way these students make decisions.”
For instance, students are less likely to be successful if they need to construct a course schedule from scratch. And reams of paperwork are outdated for a generation of learners more comfortable working on their smartphones.
But as hundreds of Tennessee Promise students plot their first steps after graduation, Krause maintained optimism.
“On a human side it sends an incredible message,” Krause said. “This is a state where there’s an opportunity.”
Reach Lizzy Alfs at lalfs@tennessean.com or 615-726-5948 and on Twitter @lizzyalfs.