A new grant will help more Tennessee students enroll in college by reducing barriers.

The Tennessee Board of Regents is one of 10 recipients of a Lumina Foundation grant investing more than $3.5 million nationwide to simplify college admissions.

Troy Grant, vice chancellor of strategic enrollment management for the Tennessee Board of Regents, said the funding from The Great Admissions Redesign will help rebuild dual enrollment systems at community and technical colleges. They aim to combine admissions and financial aid applications to create a smooth, student-centered process to improve the overall college experience.

"If a student applies for the grant, for instance, could it be that then that is the college application to be a dual-enrollment student?" Grant explained. "Then as they progress in doing dual enrollment throughout high school, how can we leverage that data to help admit them directly into higher education, as opposed to filling out yet another application?"

Grant stressed the board is focused on student success, workforce development and maintaining open access for both high school and adult learners. He noted the partnership with Lumina Foundation adds another tool to expand credential attainment statewide and it supports their day-to-day work. It also contributes to Lumina Foundation’s goal for 75% of working-age adults to hold a credential of value by 2040.

Grant highlighted dual enrollment involves many steps, which can cause some students to get lost. He emphasized Tennessee needs to ensure students are ready for college and taking steps before graduating from high school. Proactively reaching out and reassuring students the process will be smooth and manageable encourages low-income, first-generation students to pursue higher education.

"We know at our community colleges that one in three students who do dual enrollment at a community college in the state of Tennessee, two-thirds of them enroll in college," Grant outlined. "One third don't enroll anywhere. That's the third that we really wanna think critically about. They have college credit. They've done the work. They're college material. We wanna make sure that they know that they're college material."

Grant underscored the redesign is about minimizing how many times students have to repeat similar tasks to get enrolled and on the path to higher education.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

Source: Public News Service