Tennessee finds that free college isn’t enough. Many students need coaching to get them over the finish line.

When Tennessee reported on its first cohort of students after implementing Tennessee Promise, the nation’s first statewide free community college effort, SSTI reported on the program’s impressive early results. The graduation rate had increased over the previous year’s non-Promise cohort, and overall, 3,257 students in the 2015 cohort earned a degree or certificate within five semesters, an 82% increase over the pre-Promise 2014 group. Earlier this year, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) marked the program’s 10-year milestone, announcing over 150,000 enrolled students and $207 million in funding since its inception in 2014.

tnAchieves, which implements Tennessee Promise, along with College Promise, a nonprofit that advocates for making college free, recently released a report, Preparing Tennessee Students for College, Career, and the Future, also marking the 10th anniversary of the program. They noted in the report that providing free tuition is not enough for all students. Consistent student engagement in their tnAchieves COMPLETE coaching program, which they designed for Tennessee Promise students with high levels of financial need, led to higher persistence rates—each coaching attempt boosted second-year college persistence by nearly one percentage point and each successful connection raised it by 2.3 percentage points. Those students who participated in COMPLETE increased their likelihood of graduating by six times over their peers who did not participate.

The report also mentions that, in 2021, Tennessee Promise was bolstered by a state budget allocation for scaling up an existing community-based initiative called Knox Promise. This initiative now provides additional financial and coaching support for Tennessee Promise students. It provides a textbook stipend, an emergency fund to help cover unexpected financial burdens, and a dedicated tnAchieves completion coach.

The Tennessee Promise graduation rate percentages for 2020 are shown in the chart below, printed here with permission from tnAchieves.