Tennessee is located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordered by Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, and Arkansas and Missouri to the west. Tennessee is known for its rolling hills, lush forests and beautiful mountain ranges. Its capital city is Nashville. Other major cities include Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Clarksville. Tennessee is home to diverse cultures and landscapes that attract millions of tourists each year. The state is also home to several National Parks such as Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area.
List of Top Colleges in the State of Tennessee
Are you planning to attend a Tennessee college? Then, you have come to the right place! We have carefully reviewed each of 4-year colleges and universities in the state of Tennessee and the following are the top-ranked public and private programs listed in alphabetical order. You can keep reading to see best TN colleges. Please note that you will be directed to a different website.
The Tennessee Board of Regents, the University of Tennessee, and the state’s regionally accredited Independent Colleges and Universities make up one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with over 90 campuses and over 250,000 students. Our institutions are located in over 90 of the 95 counties in Tennessee, and we offer a wide range of graduate programs leading to master’s, doctoral, and professional degrees. Our institutions credential over 38,000 Tennesseans each year, making them more marketable and better prepared for the 21st century workforce.
Colleges and universities in Tennessee offer graduate programs ranging from master’s programs in Agriculture to doctoral programs in Zoology. Our institutions offer master’s programs in 23 fields, the Educational Specialist degree, doctoral work in 19 fields, and Law and Medicine. Moreover, over 31,000 students are enrolled throughout the state in graduate and professional programs. Graduate students have many opportunities to engage in research at virtually all campuses. Opportunities like the state’s Centers of Excellence provide some key examples. Since 1984, these 26 research and development centers have produced ground-breaking basic and applied research, as well as generating millions of dollars to support their research endeavors from a variety of federal, state and private foundations. These Centers are investigating a plethora of research areas ranging from Creative Arts and Pediatric Pharmacokinetics to Livestock Diseases. We are happy that the achievements of these centers will continuously contribute to the research community and beyond.
It is important to note that graduate programs in the Health-related professions, Education, Business, and Engineering awarded the most degrees during the 1997-1998 school year. Several institutions and graduate programs have been listed in the ‘Best National Universities’ rankings published annually by ‘U. S. News and World Report’.
The majority of our programs are equally distributed, across disciplines, throughout the western, middle, and eastern regions of the state. However, there is a highly concentrated number of graduate programs in Education, the Biological and Physical Sciences and the Health-related professions in middle Tennessee, and a large number of graduate programs in Agriculture and Engineering in the eastern region of the state. Meanwhile, the western region offers a remarkable number of graduate programs in Philosophy, Religion and Theology.
The relocation of several major corporations to the state, combined with many new partnerships with state and private/corporate agencies have created a wealth of new opportunities and resources available for collaborative education initiatives, internships, and employment. These improvements will ultimately lead Tennesseans to achieve higher levels of income and prosperity that will be enhanced with quality graduate programs.
Statistics have shown that enrollment patterns in the state are quite fluid. However, more and more students over the age of 25 are returning for post-baccalaureate and advanced training, a population most needed to meet the human resource needs of business, industry and government in the state. Improvements are already under way to better serve adult students and the goal of lifelong learning across the state and across disciplines, through initiatives of strategic master planning and performance funding. Thus, the range of graduate education, opportunities for basic and applied research, and partnerships with businesses allow the State of Tennessee to attract quality graduate students from around the world.
Below we list all universities in the state of Tennessee.
- Aquinas College (TN)
Founded: 1886
Slogan: “Nothing but You, Lord”.
Location: 1607 Robinson Road SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506
Telephone: 1-616-459-8281
Tuition: $30,062 (2016)
Acceptance Rate: 72% (2015)
Total Enrollment: 2,001
Founded: 1927
Location: 601 College St, Clarksville, TN 37044
Tuition: $7,801 (2015)
Acceptance Rate: 88% (2015)
Total Enrollment: 10,099
Founded: 1912
Location: 1003 Monroe Ave, Memphis, TN 38104
Tuition: $10,412 (2014)
Acceptance Rate: 53.73% (2014)
- Belmont University (TN)
Founded: 1890
Slogan: “From here to anywhere”
Location: 1900 Belmont Blvd, Nashville, TN 37212
Tuition: $31,390 (2016)
Acceptance Rate: 80% (2015)
Total Enrollment: 8,260
- Bethel University (TN)
Founded: 1871
Location: 3900 Bethel Dr, Saint Paul, MN 55112
Tuition: $35,160 (2016)
Acceptance Rate: 95% (2015)
Total Enrollment: 6,532
- Bryan College (TN)
Founded: 1930
Slogan: “Christ Above All”
Location: 721 Bryan Drive, Dayton, TN 37321
Tuition: $27,900 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 51.010002% (2019)
Total Enrollment: 739
Founded: 1851
Slogan: “Truth, Beauty, Goodness”
Location: 1646 S Russell Ave, Jefferson City, TN 37760
Tuition: $28,900 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 66.03% (2018)
Total Enrollment: 2,725
Founded: 1871
Slogan: “Virtue & Knowledge”
Location: 650 East Parkway South, Memphis, TN 38104
Tuition: $33,840 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 50.0% (2021)
Total Enrollment: 1,746
Founded: 1842
Location: 1 Cumberland Square, Lebanon, TN 37087
Tuition: $24,000 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 61.0% (2021)
Total Enrollment: 2,550
Founded: 1911
Slogan: “Graduation Begins Today”
Location: 1276 Gilbreath Drive, Johnson City, TN 37614
Tuition: $9,259 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 85.47% (2017)
Total Enrollment: 14,334
- Fisk University (TN)
Founded: 1866
Slogan: “Her sons and daughters are ever on the altar”
Location: 1000 17th Ave North, Nashville, TN 37208
Tuition: $21,480 (2018)
Acceptance Rate: 72.0% (2020)
Total Enrollment: 910
Founded: 1950
Slogan: “Life Change U”
Location: 628 E Kearney, Springfield, MO 65803
Tuition: $14,250 (2019)
Founded: 1869
Slogan: “Teaching How to Live and How to Make a Living”
Location: 158 E Main St, Henderson, TN 38340
Tuition: $22,950 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 88.450005% (2019)
Total Enrollment: 1,973
- Johnson University (TN)
Founded: 1893
Slogan: “Faith, Prayer, Work”
Total Enrollment: 820
- King College (TN)
Founded: 1867
Slogan: “For the Church and For Learning”
Location: 1350 King College Rd, Bristol, TN 37620
Tuition: $30,616 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 62.0% (2021)
Total Enrollment: 1,746
- Lane College (TN)
Founded: 1882
Slogan: “Esse Non Videri”
Location: 545 Lane Ave, Jackson, TN 38301
Tuition: $11,790 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 48.47% (2017)
Total Enrollment: 1,426
- Lee University (TN)
Founded: 1918
Slogan: “Where Christ is King”
Location: 1120 N Ocoee St, Cleveland, TN 37311
Tuition: $18,770 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 89.19% (2018)
Total Enrollment: 5,370
- LeMoyne-Owen College (TN)
Founded: 1968
Slogan: “Leadership. Opportunity. Change.”
Location: 807 Walker Ave, Memphis, TN 38126
Tuition: $11,196 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 41.0% (2021)
Total Enrollment: 950
Founded: 1897
Slogan: “We Wear His Name Proudly”
Location: 6965 Cumberland Gap Pkwy, Harrogate, TN 37752
Tuition: $22,740 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 49.0% (2021)
- Lipscomb University (TN)
Founded: 1891
Slogan: “512.0”
Location: One University Park Drive, Nashville, TN 37204
Tuition: $33,424 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 63.0% (2021)
Total Enrollment: 4,595
- Martin Methodist College (TN)
- Maryville College (TN)
Founded: 1819
Location: 502 E Lamar Alexander Pky, Maryville, TN 37804
Tuition: $35,578 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 54.52% (2018)
Founded: 1936
Total Enrollment: 450
Founded: 1911
Slogan: “Agriculture and Commerce”
Location: 1301 East Main Street, Murfreesboro, TN 37132
Tuition: $9,070 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 93.71% (2019)
Total Enrollment: 21,913
- Milligan College (TN)
Founded: 1866
Slogan: “Go with God in Faith and Love”
Location: 1 Blowers Blvd., Johnson City, TN 37682
Tuition: $34,650 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 83.4% (2018)
Total Enrollment: 1,335
- Rhodes College (TN)
Founded: 1848
Slogan: “Truth, Loyalty, Service”
Location: 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112
Tuition: $49,198 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 45.0% (2021)
Founded: 1882
Location: 3904 Lonas Road, Knoxville, TN 37909
Tuition: $17,025 (2019)
Founded: 1892
Slogan: “Power for Mind and Soul”
Location: 4881 Taylor Cir, Collegedale, TN 37315
Tuition: $22,520 (2019)
Total Enrollment: 3,000
Founded: 1912
Slogan: “Think. Work. Serve”
Location: 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd, Nashville, TN 37209
Tuition: $9,012 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 52.0% (2020)
Total Enrollment: 8,081
Founded: 1915
Location: 1 William L. Jones Drive, Cookeville, TN 38505
Tuition: $10,338 (2020)
Acceptance Rate: 76.0% (2020)
Total Enrollment: 10,504
Founded: 1901
Slogan: “To be, rather than to seem”
Location: 333 Murfreesboro Rd, Nashville, TN 37210
Telephone: 1-615-248-1200
Tuition: $26,098 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 62.0% (2021)
Total Enrollment: 3,927
- Tusculum College (TN)
Founded: 1794
Slogan: “Sit Lux”
Location: 60 Shiloh Road, Greeneville, TN 37743 | (800) 729-0256
Acceptance Rate: 89.0% (2020)
- Union University (TN)
Founded: 1823
Slogan: “Religio et Eruditio”
Location: 1050 Union University Dr, Jackson, TN 38305
Tuition: $33,750 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 53.0% (2021)
Total Enrollment: 3,377
Founded: 1912
Slogan: “Driven By Doing.”
Location: Southern Avenue, Memphis, TN 38152
Tuition: $9,912 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 85.0% (2021)
Total Enrollment: 22,044
Founded: 1794
Slogan: “You will know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
Location: 527 Andy Holt Tower, Knoxville, TN 37996
Telephone: 1-865-974-1000
Tuition: $13,264 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 79.0% (2021)
Total Enrollment: 30,559
Founded: 1886
Slogan: “We shall achieve”
Location: 615 McCallie Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37403
Tuition: $9,656 (2020)
Acceptance Rate: 82.0% (2021)
Founded: 1927
Slogan: “Elevate your future at UT Martin”
Location: 544 University Street, Martin, TN 38238
Tuition: $9,748 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 68.9% (2018)
Total Enrollment: 6,705
Founded: 1873
Location: 2101 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN 37240
Tuition: $52,070 (2019)
Acceptance Rate: 10.0% (2020)
Total Enrollment: 13,796
- Victory University (TN)
Founded: 1941
Slogan: “Think Critically. Grow Spiritually. Change Our World.”
Total Enrollment: 1,970
Founded: 1885
Total Enrollment: 200
More on the Internet
- COUNTRYAAH: How many counties are there in Tennessee? This website provides a full list of all counties, cities, towns and detailed information of each county in Tennessee.
