The number of Tennessee students attending college immediately after high school has dropped by more than 10% over the last five years and Monday, state legislators discussed two pieces of legislation to help address the problem by offering more opportunities for students to afford a higher education.
The first is a proposal by Culleoka Representative Scott Cepicky to expand high school dual enrollment grants to include sophomore students. Dual enrollment grants are funded by the Tennessee Lottery to enable juniors and seniors to take junior college classes while still in high school.
Representative Cepicky told members of the Tennessee Higher Education Subcommittee the Tennessee Lottery has money to expand the grant.
“All this bill does is expand it to Sophomore, Junior, and Senior year so they can spend more time working on their associates degree or other credentials they’re working on in a more lengthy time period,” said Representative Cepicky.
The legislation would follow a pilot program already in place at Motlow State Community College for high school sophomores.
Motlow President Dr. Michael Torrence told members of the subcommittee his college has twelve high school sophomores participating.
“This is an opportunity for students to actually move into the workforce as we all want in the state of Tennessee. More prepared, more readily to impact their communities,” said Dr. Torrence.
Advanced Robotics executive director Larry Flatt said Motlow State Community College started their pilot program after a group of high school sophomores approached them interested in Dual Enrollment. The vast majority of participants are currently making As and Bs.
“We’re extremely optimistic that we will grow this number at Motlow College, and we believe that other community colleges using what we feel would be a good passage of the bill to grow dual enrollment at all community colleges at the sophomore level,” said Flatt.
More Time to Decide on the Tennessee Promise
The Higher Education Subcommittee also discussed legislation to change the date a student must be enrolled to be eligible for the Tennessee Promise.
The Tennessee Promise provides Tennessee high school graduates the opportunity to attend a community or technical college free of tuition and mandatory fees. Currently students must be enrolled in the fall term following their graduation to earn the scholarship.
Knoxville Representative Justin Lafferty is proposing legislation to change that to no later than 16 months after graduation.
“What we’re looking to do is allow the students that are coming out of high school 16 months to make up their mind whether or not they wish to go on to a two-year college,” said Representative Lafferty.
Subcommittee members heard from General Assembly intern Anika Schultz who helped author the bill. Schultz says it was inspired by some of her friends and students who missed the deadline.
“Both of my friends just decided they didn’t want to go to college and so they never applied to the scholarship and then one day realized after working in a restaurant that they did want to go to college, but they had no option so they just couldn’t,” said Schultz. “I think that students should have a second chance to apply for the scholarship.”
The legislation is facing opposition from tnAchieves president Krissy DeAlejandro who said that while the bill looks fine at face value, it would have devastating consequences for the already declining college rates.
“Tennessee Promise was designed for the student who never thought college was an option. These are often economically disadvantaged first generation students who need consistent communication and support to enroll,” said DeAlejandro. “Promise is also more than about free college. It’s about accountability. It’s about high impact practices and seamless enrollment.”
DeAlejandro also pointed out the Tennessee Promise already has an appeal process for students who join the military, have a medical condition, or a religious obligation.
Rickman Representative Ed Butler also expressed concern about students who decide to not immediately return to college after working. Butler believes the Tennessee Reconnect program might be a better fit for them.
“It has a part-time requirement, so it really does work for that working adult,” said DeAlejandro. “My fear is if we tell students they don’t have to go immediately and we lose them, all the scaffolding and support that we provide so that we can move the needle on college graduation goes out the door.”
Tennessee House members will vote on both bills in an upcoming meeting focused on legislation dealing with the Tennessee Lottery.
