Haslam postsecondary education initiatives showing success
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Gov. Bill Haslam’s initiatives to boost postsecondary education degrees in Tennessee are showing success.
Recent enrollment figures show high interest in three programs the Republican governor launched as part of his “Drive to 55” initiative, which aims to increase the percentage of Tennesseans with a degree or certificate beyond high school from the current 32 percent to 55 percent by 2025.
About 58,000 high school graduates have applied for the program that offers free tuition at any of the state’s 13 community colleges and 27 colleges of applied technology.
The other two programs are geared toward adults. A push to provide free tuition at the state’s technology colleges has received 8,000 applicants, and a nonprofit online university that offers a competency-based degree program has an enrollment of 2,000 – a nearly 200 percent growth rate since it was launched in 2013.
