Tennessee Promise does not allow undocumented high school students to participate in the program, excluding them from the free community college tuition it offers.

Before applying for Tennessee Promise, students must apply for federal financial aid to receive state funding.

According to Migration Policy Institute, Tennessee has about 6,000 undocumented high school students. Nearly every high school senior applied for Tennessee Promise but the small percentage of undocumented students is not eligible.

"Within undocumented communities and circles, there was a hope that existed that they would be incorporated, they would be folded in with the Tennessee Promise," Josh Henderson, an English language teacher at Antioch High School, told Nashville Public Radio.

During a speech in February introducing Tennessee Promise, the governor said, "To every student, from every kindergartner to every high school senior, we will promise that he or she can attend two years of community college or college of applied technology absolutely free."

A spokeswoman for the governor says he was referring only to eligible students in his speech.

Henderson says he watched some undocumented students crying after finding out they did not qualify.

"I had one student that looked me in the eye and said, 'I've made good decisions, I've worked hard, I've scored well on tests. I know students that don't care about going to college, and I wish I could just have their opportunity,'" he says.

If undocumented students wanted to attend community college, they would have to pay about $14,000 a year in tuition and fees, the standard out-of-state rate.

Western Kentucky gives Tennessee residents in certain counties in-state tuition, regardless of their legal status while Lipscomb and Trevecca in Nashville give scholarships to undocumented students.

Many students have social security numbers through a federal program that gives work permits to undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, but they are still not eligible for federal financial aid.