Nearly half of Tennessee adults hold college degrees or certificates. State officials want that number to keep climbing.

The portion of Tennessee high school seniors enrolling in college is rebounding from a pandemic-era dip. And this rate has been a key part of hitting a decade-long goal.

A recent report from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) found that 56.7% of graduates in the class of 2023 immediately enrolled in postsecondary education. That’s 2.4 percentage points higher than the class of 2022. Still, there’s a good deal of ground to make up to reach the pre-pandemic college-going rate.

Courtesy Tennessee Higher Education Commission

This graph shows how Tennessee’s college going rate has fluctuated.

The college-going rate also is critically important to Tennessee’s longterm education attainment goals. One of the state’s biggest higher ed initiatives has been the Drive to 55.

What is the Drive to 55?

In 2013, Gov. Bill Haslam’s administration set out on a quest to get 55% of adults equipped with a college degree or certificate by 2025. The goal was that this would increase earnings potential for individuals. On a macro level, the state wanted to develop a more highly skilled workforce. And in turn, those workers would attract businesses to the state.

“At the time when we first announced this as a state, we were at 33.8%,” said Steven Gentile, executive director of THEC. He’s referencing the portion of 25-to-64-year-olds in the state who had a college degree or certificate.

Courtesy Tennessee Higher Education Commission

This graph shows the increase in postsecondary attainment for Tennesseans between the ages of 25 and 64.

According to the most recent data, that figure is now closer to half — 47.9%. And those numbers are from 2022, meaning there’s still three more years of data collecting to see if the state hits the target. Gentile is optimistic that the goal will be met. But even if not, he said “our goal extends beyond 2025 as well to continuously find ways to break down barriers to higher education for our students.”

For example, Tennessee offers tuition-free community college programs like Tennessee Promise and Tennessee Reconnect. THEC is also partnering with organizations to put on numerous events across the state to help students fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

The application has been especially burdensome this year. For that reason, THEC and the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation extended the deadline to August 1 for Tennessee Promise students.