One hundred thirty five seniors at DCHS have signed up for an opportunity to receive two years of tuition-free community or technical college through Tennessee Promise.
Patrick Cripps, DCHS Principal reported to the school board Thursday night that he is proud of the student response to this program. “I am really proud of our seniors. We’ve got 135 kids signed up for (TN Promise) out of 195. I’m also really proud of the work Ms. (Lori) Myrick (DCHS Guidance Counselor) has done getting kids signed up for that,” he said.
Tennessee Promise is both a scholarship and mentoring program that will begin in the fall of 2015. It will provide students a last-dollar scholarship, meaning the scholarship will cover tuition and fees not covered by the Pell grant, the HOPE scholarship, or TSAA funds. Students may use the scholarship at any of the state’s 13 community colleges, 27 colleges of applied technology, or other eligible institution offering an associate’s degree program. While removing the financial burden is key, a critical component of Tennessee Promise is the individual guidance each participant will receive from a mentor who will assist the student as he or she navigates the college admissions process. In addition, Tennessee Promise participants must complete eight hours of community service per term enrolled, as well as maintain satisfactory academic progress (2.0 GPA) at their institution.
Cripps said the community response to the mentoring aspect of the program has also been great. “I want to give a big thank you to our community. We must have mentors to work with those students and we have close to 25 or 30 community members. I just want to say thank you to them for giving their time because there are certain requirements students have to meet to get this free money. We have had some to step up and are willing to work with our students to do that,” he said.
Students who have signed up for TN Promise are reminded to file their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms by February 15. “Students who are signed up for this program need to have their FAFSA form completed by February 15. That’s the deadline. If you don’t have your FAFSA done by February 15 you may very well miss out on the money. That’s a very important date for parents and kids to get that filled out. We had a workshop on Monday and we had someone come out and help with filling out the FAFSA forms. There are workshops set up through the state and if parents have questions they may call the high school and we can link them to another high school if they need help with that,” said Cripps.
Statewide, 56,000 seniors have signed up for the Tennessee Promise Initiative. November 1, 2014 was the deadline to register.
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