Tennessee Higher Education Commission Outlines New Goals and Launches a Momentum-Building Year for College Enrollment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                            

Contact: Jessie Greene
Jessie.Greene@tn.gov
615.741.1318
Press Launch

NASHVILLE – October 4, 2022 – The Tennessee Larger Schooling Fee (THEC) as we speak introduced the launch of a momentum-building 12 months to resume and articulate the worth of schooling in Tennessee and to extend enrollment in schooling and coaching past highschool.

In Might, THEC launched the inaugural state college-going standing report, Faculty Going and the Class of 2021. The report confirmed that the college-going charge amongst Tennessee’s highschool graduates has been trending down over the previous 5 years, from 63.8 p.c for the Class of 2017 to 52.8 p.c for the Class of 2021. As with total declines in faculty enrollment, a lot of this decline could be attributed to the impression of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a nine-percentage level drop within the college-going charge between the Class of 2019 and the Class of 2021. Because the report launch, the company has been partaking with stakeholders to higher perceive the challenges and alternatives going through college students.

Primarily based on suggestions from state and native leaders, and to extend coordination and collaboration amongst companions statewide, THEC is asserting three large targets for 2023 to function a momentum-building 12 months:

1. Enhance the college-going charge for the highschool class of 2023 to not less than 60 p.c.
2. Enhance grownup enrollment in increased schooling by means of Tennessee Reconnect participation.
3. Enhance coordination and alignment in schooling and workforce coaching to make sure college students have moveable and stackable choices for larger financial mobility.

Within the coming weeks, THEC will embark on a collection of regional conferences throughout the state to share the state-level targets, to garner buy-in, and to debate localized college-going charge information and techniques to help scholar success with native schooling companies, increased schooling establishments, enterprise and business and workforce improvement leaders, and community-based organizations.

“The playbook for a way we talk to college students concerning the long-term profession success and financial mobility that increased schooling can help has modified considerably in recent times,” stated Dr. Emily Home, THEC Govt Director, “Employers need and want a talented and educated workforce, and all college students can profit from schooling or coaching past highschool. However there isn’t any one method to get there. We would like Tennessee’s highschool graduates to know all of their choices and that each one doorways are open to them.”

The statewide mission for 55 p.c of Tennesseans to acquire a postsecondary diploma or certificates by 2025 stays a crucial objective for the longer term workforce, and the momentum 12 months and faculty enrollment targets will help rising alternative and sharing the worth of schooling with the subsequent era. Tennessee has had a robust basis of upper schooling entry and success over the past decade with groundbreaking funding and modern packages just like the Governor’s Funding in Vocational Schooling (GIVE), Tennessee Promise, Tennessee Reconnect, and the Full Faculty Tennessee Act. Seeking to the longer term, the faculty enrollment declines and disparities throughout race and geography ought to function a name to motion for Tennessee and our nation. The Tennessee Larger Schooling Fee is relentlessly centered on rising the variety of Tennesseans with a postsecondary credential and that begins with making certain all doorways are opened for college students.

###