Fees, graduation rate rising at Jackson State Community College

JACKSON, Tenn. — Students taking health classes at Jackson State Community College may be paying a little more next fall.

“As you can imagine, those programs come with very specialized equipment and training opportunities,” Vice President for Student Services Brian Gann said. 

This is to help improve the chances of students getting a better job once they graduate.

“Really maintain their equipment, their software, and make sure students are using top-of-the-line and they’re being trained on the same things as hospitals and health care facilities will have so they’re ready to go in to train for their job opportunities when they graduate,” Gann said.

While fees are going up for some students, Jackson State Community College is actually seeing a rise in the number of people graduating, even in the last three years.

“We’re at 22.5 percent right now among first-time students, and that’s not a rate that we’re just overly thrilled about, but we have over doubled it from what it was,” Gann said.

He says this is in part due to the Tennessee Promise scholarship.

“Tennessee Promise encourages full-time enrollment. So we know that is a factor, so that if students remain full time, they’re going to naturally move towards degree attainment more rapidly,” Gann said.

They’re expecting even more students to graduate this year.

“We’re expecting to see a class very similar to if not exceeding last year’s graduating class,” Gann said.