Add COVID-19 to the existing affordability issues (transportation, food insecurity, increasing non-tuition related expenses, scholarship designs that do not benefit low-income students) and affordability becomes a colossal barrier to college completion. https://issuu.com/nashvillepef/docs/b2c_0503_digital1/x

Low-income students are working 30-40 hours per week while going to college full-time. Recent studies show, college students working over 15 hours a week are likely to have a C avg or lower, while students working 15 hours or less are likely to have a B avg. 2/x

In 2015, net price cost at Nashville State Community College for a low-inc student with a family income of $30K was $5,404. By 2018, net price had risen to $7,139 - a 25% increase in ($1,735) in just 4 yrs. It's now 2021. Let's assume it hasn't gone down since then. 3/x

Because TN Promise is a last dollar scholarship covering only tuition, low-income students do not receive any Promise scholarship funds. NSCC tuition in 2015 was $3,648. In 2020, tuition was $4,294 – a 16% increase ($646). 4/x

To cover tuition increases, if you're from a middle income or upper income family, your TN Promise scholarship went up. If you're from a low-income family, you still got nothing. Your Pell grant absorbws these costs and you have less aid to cover other costs. 5/x

The average Promise student comes from a family making $80K. Over 1/2 the funds are spent on families making $100K. And about 10% of the funds are spent on families making over $180K. 6/x

The architects of Promise point out that the program is more than a scholarship and includes mentors and community service. This is an argument they've used from the onset, dismissing the critics, and requires a very unique understanding of equity. 7/x

There is $1/2 a Billion sitting in an account generating $30M in interest per year. That $30M is handed off to middle and upper income students. In fact, the higher your income the more money you receive. If you make $200K per year, its guaranteed you'll receive over $4K. 8/x

Now do some of those students and families need the scholarship? Absolutely! It's not even some, it's many! College costs are ridiculous! Nobody is arguing that the scholarship isn't a good idea. Just that it should be reformed. 9/x

If a family that can pay $30K plus in private school tuition gets a $4K scholarship while a public school student working 30-40 hours to help their family make ends meet gets nothing....something is wrong. 10/x

Low-income students get two meetings with volunteer mentors and a community service project. No aid.

That's the equity argument.

It's the equivalent of being given the opportunity to pay someone to paint a picket fence.

11/x

This is why all of the Biden "free college" proposals being explored are 1st dollar scholarships or allow low-income students to hold onto their Pell grants. Here's a great piece that outlines all the proposals: 12/x https://www.ncan.org/news/563202/Congress-Is-Weighing-4-College-Affordability-Proposals-Here-Are-the-Details.htm

To find out more about Promise, I recommend reading the TN State Comptroller reports. Here's the 2020 report which outlines everything: 13/13 https://comptroller.tn.gov/content/dam/cot/orea/advanced-search/2020/PromiseFinalFullReport720.pdf