The Class of 2026 TN Promise application will open for completion on August 1, 2025 at TNPromise.gov! To become eligible for the TN Promise scholarship, students must complete the TN Promise application online by November 3, 2025. Upon successful completion of the scholarship application, students will receive a confirmation email from the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC) for their records! Any student who does not complete the application by the deadline will not be eligible to receive the scholarship.

We encourage all students, regardless of post-secondary plans, to complete the TN Promise application for eligibility. Many students may not currently plan to attend a TN Promise eligible institution next fall, but plans often change as students go through their senior year. We want to ensure all students can take advantage of TN Promise, even if only as a backup plan.

After the application deadline, tnAchieves will begin communicating with applicants and their parent/guardian regularly. Therefore, it is important that students provide accurate and working contact information when completing the scholarship application. We strongly encourage students to use a personal email address rather than a high school email address as many districts only allow students to receive emails from within the district, and high school email addresses are often disabled after graduation. 

We are excited to begin working with you and your seniors! Please feel free to use our website as a resource for materials, information and guidance.

We will continue to update this page with additional resources as we move through the school year. If you have any questions, please contact Holly Hunnicutt at hunnicutt@tnachieves.org. 

• TN Promise Application Steps

• TN Promise Application Hallway Flyer

• tnAchieves Requirement Flyer

• TN Promise Application Tutorial (YouTube Video)

• How to Generate TN Promise Reports in FAST

• Class of 2026 tnAchieves Student Handbook

Mandatory TN Promise Meeting Hallway Flyer

The 2026-2027 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will open on October 1, 2025 at FAFSA.gov. TN Promise students must submit the FAFSA deadline by April 1, 2026 to remain eligible for the scholarship. We will provide more information and resources here once the FAFSA becomes available!

There have been exciting changes made to the TN Promise community service requirement! In an effort to make this requirement more streamlined, students are now required to only meet one deadline each academic year. Please see below for the Class of 2026 deadlines.

August 1, 2026: Submit at least 16 hours of community service to tnAchieves.org.

• Students may submit any hours that meet our guidelines and were completed between August 1, 2024 – August 1, 2026.

• If a student submits more than 16 hours by this deadline, any excess hours will be rolled over to the next deadline.

August 1, 2027: Submit at least 16 additional hours of community service to tnAchieves.org.

• Students may submit any hours that meet our guidelines and were completed between August 1, 2024 – August 1, 2027.

• Once a student has submitted a total of 32 community service hours, they have met the community service requirement for TN Promise and will not be required to submit any additional hours.

Click here for information regarding our community service requirement, guidelines and policies. Please do not hesitate to reach out to hunnicutt@tnAchieves.org if you have any questions regarding this change!

UT Promise is a last-dollar scholarship for students accepted into an undergraduate program at UT Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin, Memphis (Health Science Center) or Southern (Pulaski). If you have any students interested in attending a UT System institution next fall, please encourage them to complete the UT Promise application by December 15, 2025!

For UT Promise eligibility, students must complete the following steps!

• Apply for TN Promise at TNPromise.gov by November 3, 2025.

• Submit a UT Promise application by December 15, 2025.

• Apply for undergraduate admission to UT institution(s) of choice by December 15, 2025.

  • UT Knoxville Application

  • UT Chattanooga Application

  • UT Martin Application

  • UTHSC Application (Memphis)

  • UT Southern Application (Pulaski)

• Satisfy the Mandatory TN Promise Meeting requirement by March 16, 2026.

• Complete the 2026-2027 FAFSA by April 1, 2026 using 2024 tax information. The FAFSA application is expected to open by October 1, 2025.

• Submit at least 16 hours of community service to tnAchieves by August 1, 2026. Students can submit hours completed from August 1, 2024 to August 1, 2026.

• Complete financial aid verification with UT institution of choice.

  • Financial aid verification must be fully completed (not just submitted for review), the UT Promise award must be accepted and the agreement signed by the campus freeze date. Failure to complete these steps will result in UT Promise scholarship ineligibility.

• Enroll as a full-time student at a UT institution fall 2026. It is important that students are in close contact with their institution of choice prior to the start of the fall semester to ensure all necessary steps to begin classes in the fall are complete.

Please click here for information on all eligibility requirements! Please note, students must qualify for the HOPE scholarship and have a family household income under $75,000 as determined by FAFSA to receive UT Promise funding.
 
Keep in mind, UT Promise functions separately from TN Promise and can only be used for universities in the UT system. Final eligibility will be determined by the University of Tennessee after the community service deadline.

All TN Promise applicants have the opportunity to enroll at a TN Promise eligible institution with TN Promise funding before the fall 2026 term; this includes early high school graduates who plan to enroll as early as the spring/winter 2026 term and traditional May high school graduates who plan to enroll during the summer 2026 term. To receive TN Promise funding before the fall 2026 term, students must meet all necessary requirements by January 12, 2026. Please click here for more information on early enrollment with TN Promise!

Please note, early enrollment is completely optional! Students are NOT required to enroll prior to the fall 2026 term.