PED Walkway hosts the majority of foot traffic on campus, serving as the main avenue for students to walk to their classes. Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023.
PED Walkway hosts the majority of foot traffic on campus, serving as the main avenue for students to walk to their classes. Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023.
The number of students who can apply for free college tuition has gone up. In August, the university system raised the income limit for the UT Promise scholarship from $60,000 a year to $75,000. The last increase was two years ago from $50,000 to $60,000.
More students enrolled in college will help Tennessee reach its workforce development goal of providing 55% of the population with a degree or certificate by 2025. The UT Promise scholarship joins the Tennessee Promise, which provides high school seniors two years of tuition at a community college, technical college or some two-year programs at four-year schools. It also joins Tennessee Reconnect, which does the same and adds some four-year programs for any adult without a degree. All UT campuses except the Health Science Center participate in Tennessee Reconnect.
President Randy Boyd announced the UT Promise in March 2019. The system first gave out scholarships in the fall of 2020 to 1,191 students — 409 of them at the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville campus. Knox County residents who received the UT Promise have outnumbered other counties even though the Chattanooga campus, with lower tuition, has had the largest number of recipients enrolled. Last year, 425 UT Promise students chose UTK.
The scholarship is paid for by fundraising through a partnership with the UT Foundation and the Ayers Foundation, which was created by Jim Ayers, the former chairman of FirstBank. UT Promise is a last-dollar award that takes care of the balance left after all other sources of financial aid are applied. Recipients are also guaranteed $500 minimum starting fall 2024, though the scholarship does not go toward room and board or books.
Students are also matched with a mentor who meets with them three times a semester. They must also complete eight hours of community service each semester. Some recipients helped with the recent university housing move-in, Food4Vols packaging over the summer and weeding UT Gardens last spring. Others have completed their hours at the Boys and Girls Club, the Love Kitchen, the Salvation Army or Ijams. Leigh Morales, UT system director for student success, said UTK students have completed over 2,000 community service hours since 2022.
“UT Promise is more than a scholarship. It is an experience that includes community service and mentorship,” Morales said. “Both of these components help a student become engaged on their campus and in their community, build relationships and connect with resources that help them be successful.”
The State Collaboration on Reforming Education, or SCORE, released a report last year that stated that 46% of the current state population has a degree. Of the students who begin high school, 87% graduate, but only 47% enroll in higher education. Fewer than two in ten Tennessee high school students will graduate from a college or university. Tennessee is seeing growth in healthcare, construction and business — an estimated 60% of jobs overall will require a degree. More education also leads to higher earnings. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2021 the state’s median household income was $58,516.
Transfer students, nontraditional students, gap year freshmen and current students who do not have the UT Promise are eligible to apply along with high schoolers. The university also has two other awards that with the UT Promise make up the Tri-Star Program: the Tennessee Pledge scholarship, which covers tuition, fees, and room and board for those making less than $40,000, and the Flagship scholarship, which supports freshmen from specific high schools for two years.
“This is a school for everyone,” Boyd told the Tennessean in 2019.
Boyd said the program ensures the university’s mission to provide a gateway to success for lower-income and middle-income residents. Boyd is currently on an annual high school tour that visits different schools to promote the scholarship. He was scheduled to visit area schools last week, then Memphis, Martin, Chattanooga and Nashville this week and will wind up in the Tri-Cities by Sept. 13.
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