Community Chat

[Cha1k]

The other thread on the President's proposal to fund two years of attendance at a community college was getting so long I decided to post this information to a new thread. As a resident of Tennessee and a retired public school teacher I would like to clarify some misinformation on the other thread about the Tennessee Promise program that Republican Governor Bill Haslam signed into law.

This link is to the Tennessee Promise website:

http://tennesseepromise.gov/about.shtml

Tennessee's program will be funded entirely with lottery money. No additional tax money will be required to provide all Tennessee high school graduates, from 2015 on, with a free community college/technical school education.

High school seniors graduating in 2015 were required to complete the application process by November 1, 2014. Almost 90% (57,000) students did so and were assigned to a mentor. 7,500 Tennessee citizens, serving as mentors, will guide from 5-10 students each through the process and will meet with them, correspond through email, FaceBook, Twitter, or by phone to keep track of their progress.

This is an excellent program if all goes as planned. It is a tremendous opportunity for so many students in our state to have the chance to succeed.

[SnowPink]

Yes, the lottery. So community college is being paid for largely by the low-income residents of Tennessee since it's mainly low-income people who throw their money away on the lottery. Kind of ironic.

[dooBdoo]

Hey, Cha1k! I didn't know you were a fellow Tennessean! Cool!

Thanks for posting the information. Even though it's my "home state," I have to say there's huge room for improvement (example, being in the "10 States with the Worst Quality of Life"). I've been reading as much as I can about this program, and I hope and pray it can be a success. We know that doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results is pointless, so it's time for big changes in my opinion.

[ROMARY]

Yes, Lottery! I've heard that story elsewhere before, but I'm glad that Tennessee will be hopefully successfully implementing it. Lots of good luck!

[SnowPink]

Dave Ramsey was just talking about this on his radio show the other day.

[ROMARY]

There really isn't much or any need to raise property and whatever else taxes when there is a healthy lottery in place.

[RoughDraft]

Yes, I was aware of the lottery and mentioned it on the other thread. It sounds promising and hopefully the follow through will not fall by the wayside. Almost any movement has to begin with a first step. Our state lottery helps implement senior citizen services.

Is there a proviso where the students must maintain a certain grade point average? The mentoring program sounds slightly daunting but I hope it works out.

[Cha1k]

On 1/10/2015 SnowPink said:

Yes, the lottery. So community college is being paid for largely by the low-income residents of Tennessee since it's mainly low-income people who throw their money away on the lottery. Kind of ironic.

Hopefully, some of the students benefitting from Tennessee Promise are from those very low-income families who purchase lottery tickets.

I've heard the saying that those who purchase lottery tickets have poor math skills. Perhaps their college educated children and can help rectify that.

[Cha1k]

On 1/10/2015 dooBdoo said:

Hey, Cha1k! I didn't know you were a fellow Tennessean! Cool!

Thanks for posting the information. Even though it's my "home state," I have to say there's huge room for improvement (example, being in the "10 States with the Worst Quality of Life"). I've been reading as much as I can about this program, and I hope and pray it can be a success. We know that doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results is pointless, so it's time for big changes in my opinion.

Doobs! Hey there you ole Volunteer! Born and raised in Tennessee.

[Cha1k]

On 1/10/2015 SnowPink said:

Dave Ramsey was just talking about this on his radio show the other day.

Dave Ramsey is a Tennessean.