A four-year college degree for $10,000 out-of-pocket to the student?
We’re not talking about fake credentials from a dodgy, money-sucking diploma mill, but a solid education at a highly respected, fully accredited, state university established in the 1880s.
That was the prospect described by chancellor Steven R. Angle of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, in his talk Thursday to The Rotary Club of McMinnville at First Presbyterian Church.
By combining the benefits of the Tennessee Promise program -- offering free tuition for two years at any of the state’s community colleges -- with the lottery-funded Hope Scholarship, students qualifying for in-state tuition rates can complete their baccalaureate degree for the less than the cost of good used car. The student would graduate for “less than $10,000 out of pocket for a four-year degree,” he told Rotarians.
Another advantage for Warren County students is the recently implemented articulation agreement between Motlow State Community College and UTC. That program allows Motlow students to earn upper-division credits that can be applied toward UT-Chattanooga graduation requirements, thereby reducing costs in terms of both tuition and out-of-county travel and living expenses. UTC developed similar arrangements with Chattanooga State and Cleveland State community colleges, but the opening to Motlow students was added “just a couple of months ago,” the visiting speaker said. 
Warren County High School has been sending anywhere from 22 to 45 graduates a year as freshmen to UTC in each of the last five years, Angle reported.  The university, which boasts one of the most attractive campuses of all in-city schools in America, hopes to be on the radar of more of Warren County’s high-achieving students, he said.
The most recent incoming freshman class had an average high school GPA of 3.48 and an ACT of 23.4. Ninety-two percent of the freshman arrive with support from the Hope Scholarship, and enrollment has been increasing, surging up to 11,800 in the 2016 fall cohort.
Angle and Dr. Renee Murley will be interview guests this week on WCPI’s FOCUS series. The half-hour conversation, covering many of the topics addressed in the Rotary program, will be on the air at 91.3 FM this Tuesday at 5 p.m., Wednesday at 5:05 a.m., Thursday at 1 p.m.; and Friday at 1:05 a.m.