In the fall of 2009, Knox Achieves will provide tuition assistance to 500 Knox County high school students who enroll in one of the region's three community colleges.  Many of these students will be first in their family to ever attend college.  Beginning in January 2009, Knox Achieves mentors will work with seniors in every public County high school to ensure they take all the necessary steps to enroll and be admitted to college in August 2009.

Why Knox Achieves? Why now?  Engineers, biologists, electricians, math teachers and health workers are among the many professions that will continue to be critical to our local economy.  Our challenge today is to prepare and train those skills here in Knox County so that we have the necessary local workforce to attract new industry and retain existing business.  Knox Achieves meets that challenge.

A second, but equal, challenge is to ensure that our high school graduates get the skills they need to support their future families.  A 2002 U.S. Census Bureau report shows that if you earn an associates degree you stand to make $400,000 more over your lifetime than if you stop your education with a high school diploma.  If you earn a bachelors degree, that lifetime earning goes up another $500,000.