ASHLAND, Ky. — Things fall through for Chris Jackson.

A construction job, promised if he completed a carpentry program, vanished two weeks before his exit exam. A coveted, $100,000-a-year union job at a steel mill disappeared when the plant closed.

Now a businessman is promising him — and more than 130 others — a job at an aluminum mill in eastern Kentucky if he can complete a two-year degree program with at least a B average and no positive drug tests. But the mill is not built, and its financing is not complete. It’s a big risk for Jackson, who turned down two other jobs hundreds of miles away for the chance to stay in his hometown.

It’s also a risk for Kentucky taxpayers. The state has offered economic incentives to the company, Braidy Industries. But in a rare move, the state legislature unanimously approved a $15 million investment in the project, making taxpayers partial owners of the mill. Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, seeking re-election in 2019, has touted the project as evidence of his leadership to bring jobs to Appalachia, where steady work that pays well has been hard to find.

But what has been touted as a sure thing has shown signs of uncertainty. In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, company officials revealed they need another $400 million to $500 million to complete construction. And while a website touting the company’s stock offering notes “200 percent of the mill’s capacity for the next seven years has been reserved,” the SEC filing says prospective buyers are not “contractually committed.”

It’s enough to worry Jackson, 41, who says his future depends on the mill.

“All my friends and family know I have put 110 percent into Braidy,” said Jackson, who said his tuition is paid for by a federal program to help unemployed workers. “Everyone starts questioning you, whether you made the right decision.”

Company officials warned skeptics not to jump to conclusions based on their SEC filing, which is required to include a section on risks for investors. And they said it is “commonly understood” in the business world that sales at this stage of development are “non-binding commitments to purchase.”

Craig Brouchard, Braidy’s CEO, says he feels the pressure, too. He said the No. 1 reason he chose Ashland was not because the GOP-controlled legislature passed a “right-to-work” law that banned mandatory union dues from employees. He said he chose Ashland primarily because it and the surrounding area were filled with eager workers. Of the likely 600 jobs available, he said the company has received 7,000 applications.

“I wake up literally every single morning with 10,000 families riding on my shoulders and it’s the most important thing in my life, my career,” he said.

One of those people is 24-year-old Holly Miller, who lives in nearby Ironton, Ohio. She started working when she was 16 in the cafeteria of a Christian university and has since bounced between retail and restaurant jobs. She’s now in the two-year degree program for future Braidy workers. It will cost her at least $11,000, which she is paying with a mix of financial aid and her own money.

“Everything is really riding on (Braidy),” she said. “I mean, our whole livelihoods are riding on it.”

Jackson, meanwhile, is studying physics, trigonometry and algebra in what he says is “the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” even more difficult than quitting smoking. But he keeps going, he said, because “I’ve got faith in this place.”