{"id":12260,"date":"2017-01-31T12:00:39","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T18:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/?p=12260"},"modified":"2017-01-31T03:33:05","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T09:33:05","slug":"tennessee-governor-bill-haslam-community-college-tuition-free-for-all-tennesseans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/2017\/01\/31\/tennessee-governor-bill-haslam-community-college-tuition-free-for-all-tennesseans\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam: Community College Tuition-Free for All Tennesseans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reconnect to offer last-dollar scholarship for adults without degrees to attend community college<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"TennesseeNashville, TN<\/strong> – In his seventh State of the State address to the Tennessee General Assembly, Governor Bill Haslam introduced his proposal to make Tennessee the first state in the nation to offer all Tennessee adults without a degree access to community college tuition-free \u2013 and at no cost to taxpayers. <\/p>\n

If the Tennessee Reconnect Act is approved, Tennessee would become the first state in the nation to offer all citizens \u2013 both high school students and adults \u2013 the chance to earn a post-secondary degree or certificate free of tuition and fees.<\/p>\n

\"Tennessee<\/a>

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cJust as we did with Tennessee Promise, we\u2019re making a clear statement to families: wherever you might fall on life\u2019s path, education beyond high school is critical to the Tennessee we can be,\u201d Haslam said. \u201cAt the end of the day, there is no higher potential for providing more opportunity for our citizens than increasing access to high quality education. And the point is, we\u2019re doing it while maintaining discipline and responsibility to the taxpayer \u2013 keeping taxes and debt low and saving for when the economy ultimately slows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Launched in 2013, the Drive to 55 is the governor\u2019s effort to increase the number of Tennesseans with a postsecondary degree or certificate to 55 percent by 2025. Currently, Tennessee needs 871,000 post-secondary degrees or certificates to reach 55 percent, but mathematically there\u2019s no way to reach that goal by only serving high school students. There are 900,000 adults in Tennessee that have some college but no degree.<\/p>\n

Tennessee adults without a certificate can already attend Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCATs) tuition-free under the Reconnect program, and the governor\u2019s Tennessee Reconnect Act would add community colleges into the program. Click here<\/a> for information on the Reconnect proposal.<\/p>\n

The governor also unveiled tonight the Tennessee STRONG (Support, Training, and Renewing Opportunity for National Guardsmen) Act<\/a>, establishing a four-year pilot program for eligible members of the Tennessee National Guard to receive a last-dollar tuition reimbursement toward a first-time bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

The Reconnect and STRONG acts are the final two pieces of NextTennessee<\/a>, Haslam\u2019s 2017 legislative agenda aimed at building and sustaining economic growth and the state\u2019s competitiveness for the next generation of Tennesseans.<\/p>\n

The governor also released his Fiscal Year 2017-2018 budget proposal. The $37 billion proposal makes significant investments in teachers, K-12 schools, higher education, state employees, the state\u2019s Rainy Day Fund and the tax cuts included in the governor\u2019s IMPROVE Act<\/a>. For a second year in a row, and the second year in Tennessee recorded history, the state budget does not take on any new debt.<\/p>\n

Notable investments include:<\/h3>\n