Listen Suicide takes the lives of more than 1,000 college students nationwide each year, but Tennessee is lagging behind in campus prevention. A new law hopes to change that.
Tennessee’s Community Colleges See Boost In Graduation Rates But Want To Aim Higher
Listen More students are completing their degrees at community colleges. That’s good news for the Tennessee Board of Regents, which met Thursday for its quarterly meeting. The TBR system, which includes the state’s 13 public community colleges, has long struggled to raise graduation rates.
Top Higher Education Official Calls For More Vocational Education In Tennessee
Listen The executive director of Tennessee’s Higher Education Commission, Mike Krause, says the agency will form a task force to see how local colleges and universities can meet employer demands. The move aligns with Gov. Bill Lee’s mission of creating more vocational education in the state. During Wednesday’s budget hearing, Krause said he’s fearful colleges […]
What We Can Learn From One Family That Took Tennessee’s Free College Offer
Listen Jim Bare never used to spend his Friday nights working on math. Now, he does it willingly — often with the rest of his family. In September, Jim, 65, signed up for his first semester of Volunteer State Community College under the Tennessee Reconnect program. His daughter also enrolled there. So did her husband. […]
Higher Ed Advocates Want Inmates To Be Eligible For Tennessee’s Scholarships
Listen Tennessee has been praised for its free college initiatives for graduating high school seniors and adults. But, there’s one part of the population that’s being left out — inmates. Now state leaders are being called on to expand state scholarships for this group.
Low-Income Students Still Struggle To Pay For College, Four Years After Tennessee Promise’s Start
Listen Tennessee has been praised for making community college more accessible by giving graduating high schoolers free tuition. But schools in the state have found the free college initiatives are not helping many of the lowest-income students, and some are trying to find ways to fill in the gaps.
DiPietro Stepping Down from UT President Post Following Increased Tension with State Lawmakers
Listen University of Tennessee President Joe DiPietro announced Monday that he’ll step down after seven years in charge, a move he’s been planning for a while but still comes sooner than some had anticipated.
With Tennessee Reconnect, Community Colleges See More Applicants — And More Adult Students
Listen Community colleges in Tennessee are likely to see an influx of adult students as they start classes in the coming days, thanks to the official rollout of the Tennessee Reconnect grant. Higher education officials say the number of adult learners at some colleges could increase by 50 or 60 percent.
Fisk University Placed On Probation Again, But Administrators Say Budget Is Sound
Listen Nashville’s Fisk University has been put on probation by its accreditors, the school said Friday. But officials defend the school’s finances, saying the decision by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges was largely based on data from 2014-2015 and that Fisk’s current budget is stronger.
State Senate Rejects Four Of Governor Haslam’s Nominees To New UT Board
State senators have rejected nearly half of Bill Haslam’s nominees to the University of Tennessee’s Board of Trustees, dealing a surprise blow to the governor. A Senate panel voted down three nominees who are serving on the university’s current board, as well as a fourth candidate because he’s a lobbyist. A fifth person also withdrew […]
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