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)

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.

Students have the option to enroll early with TN Promise funding. Please see below for more details!

• All students have the option to enroll as early as the summer term at a TN Promise eligible institution.

• A early high school graduate can begin college as early as the spring/winter term at a TN Promise eligible institution.

  • 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 term of what would have been a student’s senior year of high school. 

Requirements for TN Promise Early College Enrollment:

• Complete the 2026 TN Promise application at www.TNPromise.gov by November 3, 2025.

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

  • As an early graduate, students will receive a mandatory webinar via email after the TN Promise application closes on November 3, 2025. 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 TWO separate Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) applications by April 1, 2026.

• Complete the 2025-2026 FAFSA AND the 2026-2027 FAFSA by April 1, 2026 at FAFSA.gov.

Please note, early enrollment is completely optional! Students are not required to enroll prior to the fall 2026 term. To qualify for early college enrollment, students meet the requirements outlined below by the given deadlines.

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, early high school graduates who plan to enroll this spring/winter are required to complete all the requirements outlined above by January 5, 2026 for TN Promise to be applied to their financial aid account prior to when payments are due. If a student fails to complete the early enrollment requirements by this date, the student may be required to pay out of pocket and be reimbursed after all requirements have been met. Please note, students MUST complete all requirements by the mandatory deadlines outlined above to receive TN Promise funding for the spring and/or summer term.