Tennessee Higher Education Commission

Plain English Breakdown

The bill does not specify how the special account will be funded beyond stating annual appropriations.

Tennessee Promise Completion Grant Program

This bill changes and expands the Tennessee Promise scholarship program to provide completion grants for eligible students facing financial hardships.

What This Bill Does

• Changes the four-year pilot program into a permanent program that provides completion grants to Tennessee Promise scholarship students who need help finishing their education due to financial issues.
• Creates a special account in the state treasury called the 'Tennessee Promise Completion Grant Special Account' for managing and distributing these grants.
• Requires the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to include information about the grant program outcomes in its annual report instead of submitting separate reports.
• Limits the amount of money that can be awarded as completion grants each year from certain funds, but allows the commission to use other available funds to do so.
• Ensures that students participating in the college coaching initiative have access to a coach and may receive up to $1,000 per semester in grant funding if they qualify for federal Pell Grants.

Who It Names or Affects

• Tennessee Promise scholarship students who are facing financial hardships and need help completing their education.
• The Tennessee Higher Education Commission which administers the program and manages the special account.
• College coaching initiative participants who receive completion grants.

Terms To Know

Completion Grants

Financial aid given to students to help them finish their postsecondary education when they face financial difficulties.

Tennessee Promise Scholarship Program

A state-funded scholarship program that provides free community college or university tuition for eligible Tennessee high school graduates.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how the special account will be funded beyond stating annual appropriations.
• It is unclear what happens to unspent funds in the special account from one fiscal year to the next, though it mentions they can be carried forward.
• The exact number of students who will benefit from this program and the total amount of grants awarded each year are not specified.

Official Summary Text

PILOT PROGRAM

Present law requires the
Tennessee higher education commission
("commission") to
estab
lish a four-year pilot program to award completion grants to Tennessee Promise scholarship students who are eligible for and receiving services as part of the college coaching initiative delivered by Tennessee Promise partnering organizations, and who hav
e
an immediate financial need, or who are experiencing a financial hardship, that may prevent the student from completing a postsecondary degree or credential.
This bill provides that the program is no longer only four years and is no longer a pilot progra
m.

TENNESSEE PROMISE COMPLETION GRANT SPECIAL ACCOUNT

This bill creates
a special account in the state treasury to be known as the "Tennessee Promise completion grant special
account"
to be administered by the commission for purposes of awarding complet
ion grants.
This bill requires that moneys
in the account be used exclusively to award completion grants.

ANNUAL REPORT

Present law requires the commission to
submit an annual report on the outcomes of the pilot program to the
legislative committees
no
later than December 31, 2022, for the first year of the pilot program, and no later than December 31 of each remaining year.
This bill requires, instead, t
he commission include the outcomes of the program in the commission's annual Tennessee promise repo
rt required by
state law regarding the administration of scholarship and grant programs.

APPROPRIATIONS AND FUNDING

Present law prohibits t
he commission
from a
ward
ing
more than $250,000 in completion grants in the first year of the pilot program or in a
ny subsequent year of the pilot program
. This bill revises this provision to, instead, prohibit the commission from
award
ing
more than $250,000 in completion grants from the funds allocated to the commission from the qualified work-based learning grant fu
nd in any fiscal year
.

Present law requires the
commission
to
only use funds available to the commission from the unexpended balance of the qualified work-based learning grant fund to award completion grants
. Subject to the
appropriation in the general
appropriations act
, this bill authorizes, instead, t
he commission
to
award completion grants using any funds available to the commission
(i) i
n the Tennessee Promise completion grant special account and
(ii) from
the unexpended balance of the qualified wor
k-based learning grant fund established pursuant to
the qualified work-based learning grant program
.

Beginning
with the 2025-2026 fiscal year,
this bill requires
the commission
to
ensure that each college coaching initiative student is assigned a coach t
hrough the program and that each college coaching initiative student who is eligible for a completion grant under this
bill
and who is eligible for financial aid received from the federal Pell gran
t
has access to a completion grant amount of no more than $
1,000

each semester.

Current Bill Text

HOUSE BILL 148
By White

SENATE BILL 686
By White

SB0686
001607
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4,
Chapter 49; Title 49, Chapter 4 and Title 49,
Chapter 7, relative to Tennessee Promise
scholarship students.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-7-178, is amended by deleting the
language "four-year pilot" in subsection (b), by deleting subsection (c), by deleting the word
"pilot" wherever it appears in subsections (d)-(f), by deleting subsection (h), by redesignating
subsection (d) as subsection (c), by redesignating subsection (e) as subsection (d), and by
adding the following as a new subsection (e):
(e)
(1) There is created a special account in the state treasury to be known
as the "Tennessee Promise completion grant special account," hereinafter
referred to as the "account," to be administered by the commission for purposes
of awarding completion grants pursuant to this section.
(2) Moneys in the account must be used exclusively to award completion
grants pursuant to this section.
(3) Any balance remaining unexpended at the end of a fiscal year in the
account does not revert to the general fund, but must be carried forward into the
subsequent fiscal year.
(4) Moneys in the account may be invested by the state treasurer in
accordance with § 9-4-602.

- 2 - 001607

(5) Interest accruing on investments and deposits of the account must be
credited to the account, must not revert to the general fund, and must be carried
forward into the subsequent fiscal year for purposes of this section.
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-7-178, is amended by deleting
subsection (g) and substituting instead the following:
(g) The commission shall include the outcomes of the program in the
commission's annual Tennessee promise report required by § 49-4-903(b).
SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-7-178, is amended by deleting
subsection (f) and substituting instead the following:
(f) Subject to appropriation in the general appropriations act:
(1) The commission:
(A) Shall not use net proceeds of the state lottery to fund
completion grants awarded pursuant to this section; and
(B) May award completion grants pursuant to this section using
any funds available to the commission:
(i) In the Tennessee Promise completion grant special
account established pursuant to subsection (e); and
(ii) From the unexpended balance of the qualified work-
based learning grant fund established pursuant to § 49-11-903.
Any funds available to the commission from the unexpended
balance of the qualified work-based learning grant fund that
remain unexpended at the end of a fiscal year do not revert to the
general fund, but must be carried forward into subsequent fiscal
years to effectuate the purposes of this section; and
(2)

- 3 - 001607

(A) Funds allocated to the commission from the qualified work-
based learning grant fund for purposes of this section for each fiscal year
must provide the commission with sufficient funds to ensure that the
minimum balance of funds available to the commission on July 1 of each
fiscal year is not less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000),
including any funds that may have been carried forward from preceding
fiscal years. The commission shall not award more than two hundred fifty
thousand dollars ($250,000) in completion grants from the funds allocated
to the commission from the qualified work-based learning grant fund in
any fiscal year; and
(B) Beginning with the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the commission
shall ensure that each college coaching initiative student is assigned a
coach through the program created in this section and that each college
coaching initiative student who is eligible for a completion grant under this
section, and who is eligible for financial aid received from the federal Pell
grant, has access to a completion grant amount of no more than one
thousand dollars ($1,000) each semester.
SECTION 4. This act is not an appropriation of funds, and funds must not be obligated
or expended pursuant to this act unless the funds are specifically appropriated by the general
appropriations act.
SECTION 5. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.