The state of Tennessee is about a year ahead of Oregon in its effort to provide as much as two years’ community college tuition money to students who qualify. Its Tennessee Promise students are completing the first year of the program this spring; Oregon Promise students will begin this state’s first year in the fall.

The programs share similarities. Each requires students to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. Each requires a certain high school grade-point average, though at 2.5, Oregon’s is a bit higher. And each provides assistance only after other federal and state options have been exhausted.

There are differences, as well. The Tennessee program has a community service component and links students with mentors, while in Oregon both the 2015 and 2016 Legislatures set aside money to beef up community college counseling efforts.

But perhaps the biggest difference is this: While the Tennessee program’s offerings aim to train students for jobs Tennessee businesses need to fill, the Oregon program does not, at least directly. Students here must be in a one-year curriculum to transfer to another higher education institution or an associate’s degree program or one that offers career and technical education.

The Higher Education Coordinating Commission is tasked with reporting to the Legislature every even-numbered year — 2018, for example — on a variety of things, from student completion rates to federal aid received to the program’s impact on high schools, community colleges and universities. Too, says HECC Executive Director Ben Cannon, the commission will look at such things as whether the program improves students’ chances of college success.

At the same time, Oregon should not decide its Promise program is a success after only a year, as some in Tennessee have. Admission rates, for example, fluctuate with the economy, as does the interest in higher education among recent high school graduates. It will take time and varying circumstances to decide if Oregon’s Promise is really worth keeping.