Aug 16th, 2016
Jackson State Community College is the proud recipient of the Tennessee Promise Forward grant with an award amount of $159,496. The Tennessee Higher Education Commission announced Monday that nearly $800,000 was awarded in TN Promise Forward grants to five community colleges to focus on student success and retention.
In its application for the grant, JSCC stated that it would utilize funding to execute interventions that involve mentorship, community building, and college planning. The application also stated that the college will begin the year by implementing a communication plan to increase outreach and touchpoints with students through their college transition, spanning from course registration to degree completion.
"Our goal is to provide robust support services that will help each student create a pathway to success," says Brian Gann, Vice President of Student Services. "Each student will also be assigned a Jackson State employee mentor who will focus on connecting students to resources on campus."
Grant funding will also be used to hire a Tennessee Promise Forward completion specialist, who will work with Tennessee Promise students to track persistence and communicate with academic advisors and employee mentors about the status of a student's enrollment.
"Funding from this grant aligns perfectly with many of our other efforts that are focused on student success," explained Bobby Smith, Vice President of Student Success & Institutional Effectiveness. Smith continued, "Jackson State joined the Achieving the Dream (ATD) organization in June 2015. Our participation in ATD is an affirmation that all of our efforts as an institution will be focused on the singular goal of student success. If our students aren't successful, we will not be successful in any other objective we might have."
Tennessee Promise is both a scholarship and mentoring program focused on increasing the number of students that attend college in Tennessee. It provides students a last-dollar scholarship, meaning the scholarship will cover tuition and fees not covered by the Pell grant, the HOPE scholarship, or state student assistance funds. Students may use the scholarship at any of the state's 13 community colleges, 27 colleges of applied technology, or other eligible institution offering an associate's degree program. Additional information about Tennessee promise can be found at www.tnpromise.gov.