TN Promise is a last-dollar scholarship that provides the opportunity for every Tennessee high school student to earn a post-secondary credential. This also applies to students who complete a GED or HiSET prior to their 19th birthday.

The deadline to apply for TN Promise for the Class of 2025 high school seniors is November 1, 2024.

Applicants may apply online at www.tnpromise.gov.

Any high school senior who graduates from an eligible Tennessee high school or completes a Tennessee homeschool program is eligible to apply for TN Promise. Students will apply in the beginning of the year in which they will graduate and begin working with tnAchieves. To receive TN Promise funds, students must complete the tnAchieves program.

Students who complete a GED or HiSET diploma (and have met all other TN Promise eligibility requirements) must enroll full-time in an eligible post-secondary program in the fall term after they receive their diploma, provided that the diploma was earned before they reach 19 years of age.

If you are an early high school graduate, you can begin college early at an eligible institution with the TN Promise scholarship! An early high school graduate is defined as any student who graduates from an eligible high school, home school program, GED or HiSET curriculum before the spring semester of what would have been a student’s senior year of high school. Any student that meets this definition will have the opportunity to enroll at an eligible institution with TN Promise funding prior to the fall 2025 term, provided that all necessary requirements outlined below are met.

Requirements for Early College Enrollment:

• Complete the 2025 TN Promise application at  TNPromise.gov by November 1, 2024.

• Complete the Mandatory TN Promise Meeting requirement by March 15, 2025.

  • As an early graduate, students will receive a mandatory webinar via email after the TN Promise application closes on November 1, 2024. The Mandatory TN Promise Meeting requirement can be fulfilled by viewing this webinar, but we ask that students also attend the in-person meeting at their former high school if possible. The mandatory meeting schedule will be available soon!

• Complete and submit at least 8 hours of community service by April 1, 2025.

  • Students may begin completing community service hours on November 2, 2024 and must submit to tnAchieves.org no later than April 1, 2025.

  • If students plan to enroll in both the spring and summer terms at a Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT), a community college or 4-year institution, they must complete and submit a total of 16 hours of community service by April 1, 2025.

• Complete and submit TWO separate Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) applications by April 15, 2025.

  • Complete the 2024-2025 FAFSA AND the 2025-2026 FAFSA by April 15, 2025. 

  • The 2024-2025 FAFSA application is open for completion now at StudentAid.gov. The 2025-2026 FAFSA application will open this fall!

Early enrollment is completely optional! Students are not required to enroll prior to the fall 2025 term. If a student chooses to enroll at a post-secondary institution for the spring term with TN Promise funding, the spring term will count as one of the available 5 semesters/8 trimesters allowed with the scholarship. Additionally, if a student enrolls and receives funding in the spring and/or summer term, the academic year's GPA will be reviewed after the summer term. To remain eligible for TN Promise, students must maintain a cumulative 2.0 GPA by the end of each academic year. If this requirement is not met, the student will become permanently ineligible for the scholarship.

Students must complete all early graduate requirements outlined above PRIOR to spring enrollment to avoid triggering a reimbursement process for tuition and mandatory fees. Failure to complete the outlined requirements prior to spring enrollment will require students to pay tuition and mandatory fees at the start of the term, then be reimbursed by TN Promise only after all requirements are satisfied.

No. To be eligible, students must be able to complete the FAFSA, qualify for in-state tuition and possess a valid Social Security number. The DACA number is NOT a valid entry on the Tennessee Promise application. A student must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for which the student’s U.S. citizenship or eligible non-citizenship status has been confirmed by the federal government. Note: This option is only available for:

1. U.S. Citizens;

2. U.S. permanent residents (with an I-151, I-551, or I-551C permanent resident card); or

3. Individuals who have an Arrival/Departure Record (I-94) showing one of the following designations: Refugee, Asylum Granted, Cuban-Haitian Entrant (Status Pending), Conditional Entrant (Valid only if issued before April 1, 1980), Victims of Human Trafficking (T-2, T-3, or T-4 visa), or Parolee (who meets certain conditions).

TN Promise is a last-dollar scholarship that funds tuition and mandatory fees at eligible TN Promise post-secondary institutions. These funds cannot be used for books, cost of attendance fees or fees associated with a specific program or class. In order to use the TN Promise scholarship at a four-year college or university, students must enroll in and be accepted into an associates degree program at that school – not a bachelor’s degree program. Students enrolling in a health sciences program will not be eligible to receive TN Promise funding until admitted into the actual program of study.

At a four-year institution, the TN Promise scholarship may not be last-dollar, meaning it may not fully cover all tuition and mandatory fees. The amount of funding you will receive will be based on the average amount of tuition and mandatory fees at a community college, which is estimated to be $4,700. As a last-dollar scholarship, TN Promise will provide whatever amount remains after Pell, HOPE and TSAA funds are applied. For example, if the average tuition and mandatory fees at a community college were $4,700 per year and you were receiving $4,500 in HOPE funds each year but no other federal or state aid, TN Promise would provide $200 to be applied toward tuition and mandatory fees at one of the eligible four-year institutions.

TN Promise only funds last-dollar tuition and mandatory fees and does not pay for books or other post-secondary expenses (e.g. application fee, program and service fees).

Students must begin college the fall semester immediately following high school graduation. TCAT students are able to begin in the trimester beginning in May as long as the student has completed service hours by April 1. If you are graduating early from high school, please reference "What if students graduate early from high school?" for more information. 

After students meet all TN Promise requirements, the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC) will send the funds to the eligible institution after all Pell, TELS (e.g., HOPE and Wilder-Naifeh) and TSAA funding have been applied.

Students never directly receive funding from TN Promise. TSAC will send funds directly to the college.

Students never directly receive funding from TN Promise. TSAC will send funds directly to the colleges.

If a student continues to meet all requirements, TN Promise funding is available for five consecutive semesters at a community college, eight consecutive trimesters at a TCAT or until a terminating event (graduation or transfer to a non-TN Promise institution) has occurred.

Failure to meet any TN Promise deadline will result in a student being permanently ineligible for TN Promise.

If students fail to attend their assigned mandatory meeting, they will be permanently ineligible for TN Promise unless they have completed the Mandatory Meeting Excuse form found here.

TN Promise eligible post-secondary institutions offer associate degree programs. In order for a student to receive TN Promise funding at one of these eligible institutions, he/she must meet all deadlines, as well as be accepted in the associate degree program. At these institutions, funding for TN Promise will not be last dollar. The scholarship will be determined by the amount a student would receive should he/she attend a community college. This amount would be portable to the eligible four-year institution. In other words, if a student’s last-dollar amount at a community college is $0 due to a full Pell Grant being awarded, he/she would not receive any funding at the eligible four-year institution. If a student receives the HOPE scholarship only, he/she would receive approximately $200 each semester from TN Promise at the four-year institution.

Please click here for community service opportunities near you on our community service page, or check your college's service learning page for ideas!

Please remember that you cannot get paid or work for a family member and you must volunteer with an actual organization (e.g. church, school, animal or homeless shelter) to complete your community service requirement.

Students experiencing problems submitting the community service form should email concerns to tnachieves@tnachieves.org. Problems with submission do not excuse a student from meeting the established deadline.

Submit your hours via the community service form by clicking HERE.

A student may request a medical or personal leave of absence from timely enrollment in the initial semester, full-time attendance or continuous enrollment at an eligible post-secondary institution as long as all other applicable eligibility criteria are met. Medical or personal appeals will be considered in the following situations: illness of the student, illness or death of an immediate family member, extreme financial hardship of the student or student’s immediate family, fulfillment of a religious commitment expected of members of that faith, fulfillment of required military service, enrollment for a specific TCAT program being unavailable until a later trimester or other extraordinary circumstances beyond the student’s control where attendance by the student creates a substantial hardship.

In order to request a leave of absence after initial enrollment, a student must visit Scholarship, Appeals, and Exceptions for instructions on submitting an appeal.

In order to complete an appeal prior to initial enrollment, a student must contact their college's financial aid office to complete the appeal process as specified by his/her college. In the event an institution denies a student’s request for a medical or personal leave of absence, the student may appeal the decision in accordance with the rules.

The Tennessee Transfer Pathways ensures that students may follow a prescribed curriculum that is transferable, marked by clarity and available for students to review on the first day of enrollment. There are approved transfer pathways that span multiple disciplines and are accepted at all public institutions in Tennessee. More information about participating institutions can be found HERE.

Although a student who completes an associate degree is no longer eligible for TN Promise, the student should contact the four-year institution he/she is interested in to discuss other sources of aid.

tnAchieves uses the contact information initially provided on the TN Promise application to send important communication related to program requirements. Failure to notify tnAchieves of changes may result in students missing important emails and texts related to upcoming deadlines.

Yes. TN Promise will cover remedial classes if a student should need to take them. If you score below a 19 on the ACT, you might be interested in our Summer Programs.

For the time students are TN Promise scholars, they will be referred to as the class year in which they graduated from high school.

If a student is unable to begin at a TCAT the fall immediately following high school graduation due to the intended TCAT program being full, the student must be reported as on an official wait list by the TCAT in order to remain TN Promise eligible. The student must begin their program as soon as a spot is available to them. The student must also meet the initial July 1 community service deadline after high school graduation. The hours submitted by the July 1 deadline will be applied to the trimester the student is able to begin the program at the TCAT.

No, students are not required to repay their TN Promise scholarship. However, we strongly encourage students to finish their program. Before stopping, please reach out to someone on our team so we can help you find a solution that includes finishing your program!