Tennessee County Pays for Two Years of College
Published Apr 07, 2002
Educate and Grow participant Jacob Matney has finished his first year as a computer science student at Northeast State Technical Community College.
Two years of free college tuition … guaranteed.
A Tennessee community is garnering national attention through its innovative economic development program that promises just that.
“Educate and Grow” was launched in Kingsport in 1999 and has expanded to include all of Sullivan County. The program offers students funding at any of Northeast State Technical Community College’s campuses for a two-year associate degree in some 45 fields, or transferable credits for the first two years of a baccalaureate degree.
“We want to be the first city to institute a K-14 system,” says Keith Wilson, president of the Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce and publisher of the Kingsport Times-News.
The Chamber, the city of Kingsport and the Kingsport Economic Development Partnership designed the program to jump-start economic development in the predominantly farming and manufacturing region.
“We were looking for something that might help us to retain our youth as an incentive to pursue higher education and remain in the area,” Wilson says.
Students must graduate from one of the county’s six high schools or be a qualifying home-schooler who meets the admission requirements of the college. Nearly 160 high school graduates in 2001 took advantage of the program, according to Bill Locke, Ed.D., college president.
“We have people in school who previously would not have even thought about coming to college,” says Locke.
Educate and Grow also includes the development of the Regional Center for Applied Technology (RCAT), which will focus on enhancing workforce development. RCAT will be located in the city’s Transit System building, giving students easy access to the facility by bus from anywhere in the community. Plans include the development of a career center and a child-care center for students’ children.
Story by Sharyn Matthews
Photo by Theresa Montgomery
Current Weather Conditions In Nashville, TN (37243)
Partly Cloudy, and 67 ° F. For more details?
Click here...
