1. Tennessee Reconnect- Adult Learner success
Ken Hanson
Assistant Director Adult Learner Initiatives
Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC)
09/23/18

2. Overview The History of Tennessee Reconnect & Background
The Integration of Wraparound support
Reconnect Application
Characteristics of Tennessee Reconnect Applicants

3. The Drive to 55 is Governor Bill Haslam’s initiative to increase the number of Tennesseans with a postsecondary degree or credential to 55 percent by the year The Drive to 55 is focused on ensuring that more Tennesseans are equipped with the skills and credentials that will be needed to support the state’s economy now and in the future. It has been estimated by that 55% of the workforce will require a postsecondary credential . Without the Drive to 55, there may not be enough residents with the necessary education to meet the workforce needs.
The drive to 55 involves traditional students as well as now the non-traditional student.
TN Higher Education Commission THEC and TN Student Aid Corporation or TSAC work is at the center of the Drive to 55. A number of the initiative’s programs are housed within THEC or TSAC and the staff of the agencies are relentlessly focused on increasing the number of Tennesseans with a postsecondary credential.
The Drive to 55 is the state’s mission to increase the percentage of working adults with some kind of postsecondary degree or credential from 39 percent to 55 percent by the year The goal of the 55 percent education attainment rate is based on the estimated percent of jobs that will require a postsecondary credential in Responding to this demand will mean reduced unemployment and improved quality of life for Tennesseans.
The 4 strategies of the Drive to 55 are:
Get students ready to go to college.
Get students in by reducing financial barriers
Get students out and into the workforce
Reconnect adults by creating new opportunities for the existing 750,000 adults with some college but no degree to finish.
The strategies create alignment and accountability by ensuring all state agencies, educational institutions and employers work together to identify skills gaps of the future and proactively fill them.
Governor Haslam and the state’s goal is to equip 55% of Tennesseans with a degree or credential by It’s not just educational attainment initiative, it’s also a economic and workforce it development initiative. By 2025, 55% of jobs in Tn will require some form of Postsecondary education.

4. Why Adults Are Important
Tennessee can’t meet the goal of 55% without a strong focus on increasing efforts to bring more adults into postsecondary education and to help those adults graduate. It’s actually mathematically impossible. By 2025, our colleges and universities need to get 871,000 postsecondary credentials into the hands of people who do not currently have them. However, we are only expecting 645,000 Tennessee high school graduates in that same period of time. So even if every high school graduate went to college, and graduated from college, it would not be enough to meet the goal of the Drive to 55. We think we can bridge that gap by focusing on adults.
Currently there are 750,000 adults with some college and no degree, 110,000 of them have half of the credits needed for an associate and/or bachelor’s degree and 25,000 have 100% of the credits needed for an associate or bachelor degree – numerically; however they might not be the right combination of credits.

5. Knowing the Drive to 55 goal, understanding the data, and recognizing the importance of adult learners to our state, Tennessee Reconnect was created to encompass all of the adult learner initiatives under the Drive to 55. tennessee Reconnect focuses on those non-traditional students, generally over 24, or independent by FAFSA, that may have college credits and reconnect them to college, or as it’s now set up they may have no college and still want to reconnect them to college. Reconnect focuses on the tuition free grant, and the wrap around programs to meet the needs of these adult students.

6. Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s (THEC) purpose
Reconnect took some time to plan. THEC created the vision of the potential Reconnect program. How to incorporate Postsecondary education, streamline processes for adults and how can the system be responsive, flexible, and supportive of the needs of adults attending college.
To create this program, the stakeholders need to be identified, such as the obvious two, of students and the institutions. But to have a successful program, there needs to be the employers and workforce that will hire these adults when they finish their education, but also there needs to be a discussion about the communities that are there to support the students while they are in the process.
But the focus of this program, to get it started, THEC is there for policy development, they are a strategic partner for all the stakeholders, without interfering with the process, and of the greatest value is they help develop the capacity for the state to support our adults to be successful in college.

7. Guiding Strategies THEC’s purpose
With the development of the, vision, listing of the stakeholders, and THECs role, it leads to the guiding strategies for the Reconnect initiative.
First, THEC accomplishes Research effective ways to support adults then build the framework for the policies to support them.
One of the difficulties for adults attending college is they need supports that are not needed by the traditional student. They need financial support, childcare, food, or other items not usually needed by the traditional student.
It’s also a challenge to reach out to the adult student. Traditional students you just contact them at the high school, and often at their parent;s house. Adult students you have to find them where they are. At the job, or other locations that are spread out and not as easy to track. So there needs to be a process for reaching out to adults and entice them to attend college.
Institutions are often accustomed to working with the traditional student so they know how to meet their needs. Now colleges need to find supports unique to adults. Colleges have to change their way of thinking like making classes available for students that may be working full time, or don’t have the ability to make it to the campus on a daily basis. They often only attend part-time. Either way, schools need to rethink their way of teaching adults. Adults will not tolerate the same treatment as the traditional student, now how do they support these students?
Since the D55 is in place to build training/educate to prepare adults for the workforce, If they are being trained, they need to have the ability to move to the workforce when they are complete. This can be through internships, apprenticeships, or just a job when they are complete.
And during this whole process, the community the adults live in, must take ownership of supporting these adults. This is through TRCs and other supports from the local communities and other initiatives to show how communities can work together to support adults.

8. Reconnect-more than just a grant
What is TN Reconnect?
Tennessee Reconnect is a general term of many initiatives to support adults that are reconnecting to college. For the student that is right out of high school, it’s TN promise, for adults it’s Reconnect. Whether this is for adult students that have some college and are reconnecting to finish their degree, or adults that have never attended college, there are and have been many programs under this umbrella to support these adults. These students are generally 25 or older, or are considered independent by FAFSA standards. Reconnect helps adults enter postsecondary education so they may gain new skills, advance in the workplace, and fulfill lifelong dreams of completing a degree or credential. But Tennessee Reconnect is made of many programs, some focused on students, some on colleges, come on communities and some on employers and workforce agencies.

9. Reconnect provides resources directly to students through multiple venues.
Information
Support
Financial aid
And of course the most essential, the colleges themselves

10. Information:
One of the most important resources for adults is information. In this case, information IS power. The TNREconnect.gov website is the first place for adults to visit to find out the information they can use to get started with their college career. There’s a section for those adults that are returning to college to finish their degree. Section for those that are going to college for the first time, and the section that is near and dear to me is the section for veterans and military members. This website provides checklist for how to get started back to college, how to find veterans GI bill resources, contact information for important offices at colleges, how to pay for college, help to select a college and degree path, and along with it ways to finish a degree faster through methods such as Prior Learning assessment or online programs..
Two important areas is supports and application. As you notice there is a big red strip at the top of the page. This is a link to a checklist to guide adults to start their reconnect program. It also leads them to the Reconnect application otherwise known as the Reconect success plan,. I’ll talk about this in more detail later.
As you notice at the top of this, if you can read it, it provides a link to Talk to an Advisor. This is either for talking to an academic advisor at a community college, or just as important, an advisor/navigator at a Tennessee Reconnect community.

11. Support: Institutional
Goal: to provide an environment in which adult learners can be successful and complete a credential
Community Colleges Reconnect Teams
Academic initiatives
Adult learner support services
Enrollment management
Advising and career
The first support is the obvious institutional support. They provide the environment for adults to be successful. The community colleges in Tennessee have also developed Reconnect support teams with areas such as academic initiatives to find support of programs that fit the adults needs, such as evening and weekend courses.
Adult Learner support systems such as can be built by Student Support services, which provide adult and veterans centers, TRIO services, or food pantries. Enrollment management looks at what it takes to recruit, enroll, or help adults persist in college. And one of the most important sections is the advising and career section to help guide the adult academically, and prepare them for their future career through building resumes, interview procedures, or just finding a job or internship that is best for them.

12. Community based support for Adult students High Touch Locally-based
Institutional-neutral
Navigation support to and through college
Based on The Graduate Network model
The unique support that is only fully in Tennessee is the community based support called our Tennesse Reconnect communities. It is based on the Graduate network model, Originated out of Philadelphia PA. Tennessee is the only state with a statewide network of community based support that covers all 95 counties in Tennessee. These aer managed from THEC, but there is a director with navigators that work with adult students. They do not wait for the adults to show up, they are high touch navigators that go out of their way to start and maintain contact with adults from the time they decide to investigate going back to college, until they graduate from college and move to a job.

13. Tuition Free at Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCAT)
Financial Aid:
Tuition Free at Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology (TCAT)
Eligibility:
Tennessee Resident
Independent thru FAFSA
Enroll full time at a TCAT
Pursue certificate or diploma
Continuous enrollment and SAP
These programs are generally less than 1-2 year certificates and diplomas. Student must attend full-time, but they are often more conducive to adults because they are cohorts.

14. Financial Aid: Started Fall 2018
Last dollar scholarship to attend community college or eligible institution tuition free
Eligibility
Independent thru FAFSA
Not have already earned associate/bachelor degree
Tennessee resident 1-year prior to application
Admitted to eligible institution
Participate in college success program
To remain eligible
Enroll in 6 credit hours semester
Maintain 2.0 GPA

15. Reconnect Grant Application Process
Apply to institution
Complete FAFSA
TN Reconnect Grant Application

16. Reconnect Success Plan (RSP)
Application questions determine student support needs
RSP generated
“Map” of support services at chosen institution, Tennessee Reconnect Community (TRC), and student’s specific needs or concerns
Continued communication to all Reconnect grantees
Aligns with Reconnect Success Plan
Maintains communication as student progresses
Connects applicant to staff at both TRC and institution

24. To DATE…
Over 32,000
Applicants submitted for the Tennessee Reconnect grant
83%
Filled both FAFSA & Reconnect application
79%
Eligible

25. Reconnect Applicant Profile
57% have dependents they are caring for
86% plan to work while enrolled
55% plan to work full-time
30% plan to work part-time
5% plan to work multiple jobs
88% have internet access at home

26. 50% prefer to take classes during daytime hours or can take them anytime
25% prefer nights and weekends
25% prefer online programs

27. Applicants enrollment status
33% no college history
37% some college experience but not currently enrolled
26% currently enrolled

29. Applicants Self-Identified Challenges/Concerns
1. Finances 2. Family responsibilities 3. Work demands 4. Time management

30. What’s Next? Who is eligible? Who enrolls? Who persists
How do institutions Respond
What are their observations?
Collecting and connecting the data for action

31. Assistant Director for Adult Learner Initiatives
Assistant Director for Adult Learner Initiatives