Two-thirds of high school seniors apply for Tennessee Promise scholarship program

photo A student walks past the student enrollment center at Chattanooga State Technical Community College in this Feb. 5, 2014, photo.

Student applicationsNumber of high school seniors who applied as of Thursday for Tennessee Promise:Hamilton County: 1,282Bledsoe: 68Bradley: 498Marion: 199McMinn: 395Meigs: 118Rhea: 201Sequatchie: 59Mentor numbersNumber of people who had signed up to mentor students in Tennessee Promise. Mentor requirements are based on the number of students who apply in each county:Hamilton County: 277, 20 still neededBledsoe County: Six, eight still neededBradley: 86, 33 still neededMarion: 37, four still neededMcMinn: 52, 29 still neededMeigs: 18, six neededRhea: 35, eight still neededSequatchie: 18, five more than neededPromise guidelinesHigh school seniors need to take the following steps to get a free two-year degree through Tennessee Promise:Nov. 1: Log on to TNpromise.gov to apply to the Tennessee Promise program. A local partnering organization will contact the student to help you complete the requirements.Feb. 15: File the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at www.fafsa.gov.March 15, 2015: Attend first mandatory meeting coordinated by partnering organization.May 31, 2015: Attend second mandatory meeting coordinated by partnering organization.Spring: Apply to a community or technical college.Aug. 1, 2015: Complete FAFSA verification, if required by the community or technical college.Aug. 1, 2015: Complete eight hours of community service.Source: TNpromise.gov

With a Nov. 1 deadline approaching, some 42,000 of Tennessee's roughly 62,000 high school seniors - or about two-thirds - have applied for Tennessee Promise, a new scholarship program that guarantees to cover the costs of a two-year college degree.

Among them is Christian Woodfin, 17, a senior at Red Bank High School and starting varsity baseball pitcher, who plans to use the program to get a two-year degree in fire science and engineering so he can be a firefighter.

"I'm very excited and blessed," said Woodfin, who'll be the first member of his father's side of the family to go beyond high school. "Without that, it would been really hard to ... go to college."

Gov. Bill Haslam has visited Red Bank and other high schools around the state to promote Tennessee Promise, which he hopes will help boost the number of Tennesseans with two- or four-year degrees to 55 percent, up from 33 percent, now.

Most students who apply probably won't enroll, according to state officials. Based on the experience with Tennessee Achieves, a smaller, similar program upon which Tennessee Promise was modeled, about 16 percent of applicants actually enroll, said Dave Smith, Haslam's press secretary.

Applying online to Tennessee Promise is quick and easy, officials say, and students may sign up as a fall-back in case other plans don't work out. Or because their school counselors suggested it -- as is likely the case, Smith said, in some counties where every graduating senior applied.

In Hamilton County, 1,282 seniors had applied as of Thursday -- almost exactly half of the 2,556 high school seniors enrolled on the 20th day of school.

Tennessee Promise also seeks adult mentors to spend one hour a month to "help students navigate the college admissions process and ensure they complete Tennessee Promise program requirements," the program's website says. Mentors are expected to do such things as remind students of deadlines and reach out to parents and guardians.

Once they get to college, enrollees also have to complete eight hours of community service per term and maintain a 2.0 grade-point average.

'Death sentence' for HOPE

State officials expect to spend $15 million on Tennessee Promise in its first year. The cost will rise to an estimated $34 million in three or four years, when the program is fully underway, officials say.

Funding comes from interest on $312.5 million that was taken from the Tennessee Lottery's surplus fund that's been put into an irrevocable trust. State Treasury employees invest the trust's money, and the interest will be used to fund Tennessee Promise.

"It's a promise, because the money has been set aside," Haslam told students when he kicked off his tour of Tennessee high schools on Aug. 19 at Red Bank High School.

The Tennessee Lottery still has a surplus of about $110 million, as required by law. But from now on, any surplus above that will go toward Tennessee Promise.

The man who has described the Tennessee Lottery as "his baby" is an outspoken critic of Haslam's Tennessee Promise. Democratic U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, of Memphis, says he spent 18 years in the state Senate working to repeal Tennessee's constitutional ban on lotteries, which ended in 2002.

Tennesseans were told that the lottery's HOPE Scholarships would fully fund college scholarships, Cohen said, but that's never happened. And Tennessee Promise will further cut HOPE funding, he said in a statement.

"All future lottery revenue gains will flow to the governor's free-tuition, no-standards community college program, and the HOPE Scholarship will fade into irrelevance," Cohen said. "It is wrong to cut lottery scholarships to create a massive new government program, and it is wrong to siphon $300 million meant to strengthen HOPE Scholarships for the governor's pet project. Doing so will sentence HOPE Scholarships to a slow and certain death."

HOPE scholarships had provided $4,000 annually. But because of Tennessee Promise, that will change to $3,500 for college freshmen and sophomores, but will increase to $4,500 for juniors and seniors.

"What the governor says is the agenda of the HOPE Scholarship was to retain Tennessee's best and brightest," Smith said. "What it hasn't done is expand Tennessee's college-going rate."

Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.

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