NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee higher education officials say community college graduation rates are on the rise.

According to WPLN-FM , the Tennessee Board of Regents says 13.6 percent of students who began in 2010 graduated within three years. That has increased to 25.4 percent.

Russ Deaton, the board's executive vice chancellor for policy and strategy, expects the rate to increase even more with this year's graduating class. He said that means the rates will have roughly doubled over about six years.

Community college is a major focus of Tennessee's free tuition programs. For Tennessee Promise students, 13.8 percent of first-time freshmen who started in 2014 graduated within five semesters. Those who started in 2016 had a 22.9 percent graduation rate in five semesters.

The Board of Regents includes the state's 13 public community colleges.

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Information from: WPLN-FM, http://www.wpln.org/