All 14 Upper Cumberland Counties have free high school equivalency course opportunities.
Lynda Huddleston is the Upper Cumberland District Coordinator for Adult Education. Huddleston said getting started is as simple as making a phone call.
“Let us know what county they’re in or where they would like to attend and we can give them specific times and dates,” Huddleston said. “Get an appointment set up so that we’re just able to meet with them and go over registration, some orientation and answer a lot of questions.”
Huddleston said that if in-person does not work for someone, the virtual learning has been expanded.
“We’re now actually able to offer a totally virtual pathway,” Huddleston said. “So they can actually never set foot in a classroom at any location, if that’s what they prefer. We can do intake virtually, we can do their pre-testing virtually and they can actually even take the high school equivalency exam virtually if that’s what they choose.”
Huddleston said all courses are free, no matter someone’s residency status. However, she did say that based on pre-scoring they can get a voucher to take the final test for free.
“They may want to go to a TCAT, they may want to go to a community college, they may want to go to a university,” Huddleston said. “What we want to do is take this first step, remove this barrier, so all those doors are now open to them as choices.”
Huddleston said the goal is to set everyone in the Upper Cumberland up with a family sustaining wage. She said the first step for anyone interested is to call either 833-749-0779 or 931-520-9519.