Tennessee Reconnect
What does Tennessee Reconnect offer to students and to institutions of higher learning?• State marketing and outreach• Outreach from community colleges and universities to their former students who have dropped out and not yet completed a degree• A one-stop shop adult learner portal (www.TNReconnect.gov)• Grants to institutions to improve the way they serve adult learners.• Grants to institutions to improve the way they serve veterans• Community-based institutional-neutral advising and support services for adults returning to college.• The TCAT Reconnect Grant, a last-dollar scholarship to attend one of Tennessee’s 27 Colleges of Applied Technology and the Community College Reconnect Grant Pilot to provide last-dollar scholarships for an adult to attend a community collegeSource: Tennessee Higher Education Commission
It always bothered Lisa Gordon that she came just a few classes short of finishing her associates’ degree at Chattanooga State Community College.
“I left due to financial issues. I always wanted to come back and finish a degree,” says Gordon, 36, who works full-time as a health technician in the Head Start preschool program for the city of Chattanooga’s Youth and Family Development Office.
So Gordon jumped when a postcard from Chattanooga State came in the mail alerting Gordon that she likely was eligible for Tennessee Reconnect, a new state program with financial aid that aims to lure back the “never graduateds,” students who racked up some college credit – but never finished their degree.
“I decided to seize the opportunity and go back to take classes. All I needed was six classes,” Gordon says.