Top colleges in Tennessee by 10-year ROI
Executive Summary
Bachelor’s-predominant institutions located in Tennessee with at least 200 students, sorted by the same 10-year ROI estimate used nationally. Vanderbilt University leads this list at $338,065 (10 Yr. ROI).
Leaders: top 3
Vanderbilt University
10 Yr. ROI
$338,065
Baptist Health Sciences University
10 Yr. ROI
$268,792
Christian Brothers University
10 Yr. ROI
$210,991
Top 25 Top colleges in Tennessee by 10-year ROI
| Rank | Institution | State | Control | Enrollment | 10 Yr. ROI | Also see |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vanderbilt University | TN | Private nonprofit | 7,208 | $338,065 | Grad 93.5% · Net $15,846 |
| 2 | Baptist Health Sciences University | TN | Private nonprofit | 770 | $268,792 | Grad 39.8% · Net $11,212 |
| 3 | Christian Brothers University | TN | Private nonprofit | 905 | $210,991 | Grad 54.7% · Net $9,854 |
| 4 | Cumberland University | TN | Private nonprofit | 2,104 | $189,290 | Grad 45.6% · Net $18,759 |
| 5 | The University of Tennessee-Knoxville | TN | Public | 30,418 | $175,542 | Grad 73.9% · Net $18,976 |
| 6 | King University | TN | Private nonprofit | 908 | $170,424 | Grad 47.9% · Net $22,347 |
| 7 | The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga | TN | Public | 10,074 | $162,791 | Grad 50.2% · Net $14,265 |
| 8 | University of Memphis | TN | Public | 12,701 | $160,612 | Grad 50.9% · Net $12,397 |
| 9 | Tennessee Technological University | TN | Public | 8,698 | $159,918 | Grad 57.7% · Net $14,246 |
| 10 | Rhodes College | TN | Private nonprofit | 1,836 | $159,868 | Grad 84.5% · Net $28,585 |
| 11 | Austin Peay State University | TN | Public | 7,560 | $159,263 | Grad 40.2% · Net $9,735 |
| 12 | Tennessee Wesleyan University | TN | Private nonprofit | 846 | $155,880 | Grad 47.6% · Net $14,836 |
| 13 | Trevecca Nazarene University | TN | Private nonprofit | 1,737 | $155,834 | Grad 53.1% · Net $16,813 |
| 14 | Middle Tennessee State University | TN | Public | 16,301 | $154,822 | Grad 53.7% · Net $13,359 |
| 15 | The University of Tennessee-Martin | TN | Public | 4,866 | $154,727 | Grad 52.5% · Net $10,701 |
| 16 | Bethel University | TN | Private nonprofit | 1,547 | $152,903 | Grad 35.0% · Net $12,595 |
| 17 | The University of the South | TN | Private nonprofit | 1,607 | $148,510 | Grad 79.8% · Net $27,872 |
| 18 | Bryan College-Dayton | TN | Private nonprofit | 814 | $145,444 | Grad 49.7% · Net $20,614 |
| 19 | Lincoln Memorial University | TN | Private nonprofit | 1,572 | $143,941 | Grad 49.7% · Net $20,406 |
| 20 | Lipscomb University | TN | Private nonprofit | 2,997 | $142,544 | Grad 72.2% · Net $24,739 |
| 21 | Strayer University-Tennessee | TN | Private for-profit | 1,784 | $130,914 | Grad 0.0% · Net $11,645 |
| 22 | East Tennessee State University | TN | Public | 10,004 | $129,226 | Grad 53.2% · Net $15,983 |
| 23 | The University of Tennessee Southern | TN | Public | 864 | $126,044 | Grad 36.9% · Net $12,798 |
| 24 | Southern Adventist University | TN | Private nonprofit | 2,773 | $124,600 | Grad 49.4% · Net $24,345 |
| 25 | Milligan University | TN | Private nonprofit | 818 | $124,444 | Grad 63.4% · Net $21,365 |
Method notes
- Underlying institution file: EDsmart Data processed College Scorecard extract merged to the IPEDS 2024 directory for HBCU and Carnegie fields.
- Cohort applied on this page: enrollment floor of 200 undergraduates; sorted highest first on 10 Yr. ROI; 39 campuses met every filter and the top 25 are published.
- Ties on the ranked metric are broken by enrollment, then institution name, so ranks stay stable between rebuilds.
- ROI column matches the processed college_roi_rankings series in this site build; see College Scorecard ROI methodology.
- How the 10-year ROI figure is built: median earnings reported 6, 8, and 10 years after entry (years 7 and 9 linearly interpolated) are summed across years 6–10, then average annual net price × typical years enrolled (five for bachelor’s-predominant campuses) is subtracted. It is a nominal-dollar gap—not discounted to present value, and it does not subtract earnings foregone while enrolled or compare against a no-college baseline. Campuses reporting only one of the three earnings years are excluded from these tables.
- School profile links use generated slugs; not every campus has a published profile page yet—use the Scorecard site as fallback.