Tennessee Promise Broken For Some JCHS Students
The Class of 2015 is slatted to be the first class to benefit from Governor Haslam’s Tennessee Promise program that provides last dollar funding, for a two year stint at community college or technical college, to high school graduates across the State of Tennessee. A part of the Governor’s push to up the base level of education in Tennessee, the program was to make college accessible to all graduates and cut down the cost of student loans. According to Tn Achieves Director Krissy DeAlejandro, whose organization is charged with facilitating the Tennessee Promise to high school seniors, around 58,000 Tennessee students will be taking advantage of the no cost promise for a two year post high school education. However, in Jefferson County a group of Jefferson County High School seniors will be left out of the educational windfall. According a representative from to the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation, Jefferson County High School had around 430 applicants for the Tennessee Promise and around 374 are still in the running for “ Promise” money. Parents of some of the students that will not be receiving their part of the “promise” pie have been struggling to get answers as to why their children will not receive those promised funds.
According to information provided in interviews with some of the students that are being left out of the Promise funding, around fifty or more students were informed in January, just prior to the first mandate meeting with Promise mentors, that they were not on the list to receive funds, though all had filled out applications to receive Tennessee Promise money. Some of the students came to the meeting anyway, looking for answers, but none were to be found. One student interviewed stated that their application was done on line, in class, at Jefferson County High School and was checked for accurate completion by school staff. That student was told that an apparent “ glitch in the system” kept their application from being processed and that, as the deadline had passed, nothing could be done. Another parent was told that several of the students that were left out of the “Promise” were dual enrolled in college and that it created confusion with the system.
Both DeAlejandro and the representative from TSAC agree that there has been some issues with application completion. So many, in fact, that the State of Tennessee opened up one day in December 2014 for enrollment for students that had experienced difficulty meeting the November 1, 2014 deadline. TSAC stated that students were informed of the one day window via email. However, the more than fifty students at Jefferson County High School did not receive the information that there was any problem with their applications until January, well past the one day window in December.
Jefferson County High School, itself, has been pro active in providing information to students and guidance regarding the strict deadlines associated with the Tennessee Promise. Several meetings and calls were made to students and even staff assistance, as was noted by more than one interviewee. Where the breakdown occurred between application and enrollment in the Tennessee Promise program has yet to be established. It is not the “glitch in the system” of a new government programs that is surprising to the parents whose children are now looking for other ways to fund their education. But, rather, the lack of flexibility on the part of those associated with Tennessee Promise to fix the issues. When interviewed, DeAlejandro of Tn Achieves and the representative from TSAC both stated that a missed deadline disqualifies the student from receiving Tennessee Promise money and neither listed any exceptions. When asked if the problem was a breakdown in communication between students and officials or, as was reported, a “glitch in the system” was there any fail safe for the student, the answer was no. The representative from TSAC did stated that he was aware of the situation in Jefferson County and that it was not unique to Jefferson County High School. However, he did not offer any suggestions for relief for parents and students who are still looking for their “promise” of funding.
District 11 State Representative Jeremy Faison became aware of the issue on Friday, May 1st. He stated “I am disappointed that there is this loophole in the Tennessee Promise program and I can assure parents that I will be investigating the issue.” In the meantime, some of the students that will be without “Promise” funding have altered their plans for college next fall. One student said “ I did what I was supposed to do and even had my application checked. I don’t blame the school, they were trying to help us get things in on time and I submitted my application weeks before the due date. I just wish that the government would consider that some of us were counting on that money. After all, they promised.” According to TSAC, not only are the impacted seniors disqualified from receiving funding in 2015, they have forfeited any and all funding from Tennessee Promise and will not be eligible for funding in 2016 or beyond.
