Colleges in Tennessee whose graduates clear the bar most often

Ranked by the share of each school's programs whose graduates out-earn a typical high-school graduate (the federal earnings-premium test).

#	College	Programs clearing the bar	Median earnings	Programs measured
1	Vanderbilt University	100%	$97,544	49
2	The University of Tennessee Health Science Center	100%	$87,628	14
3	Lincoln Memorial University	100%	$71,009	19
4	Union University	100%	$66,430	18
5	Christian Brothers University	100%	$64,897	11
6	Strayer University-Tennessee	100%	$64,016	17
7	University of Memphis	100%	$63,781	62
8	Belmont University	100%	$62,666	33
9	Bethel University	100%	$61,535	10
10	Trevecca Nazarene University	100%	$55,646	21
11	Tennessee State University	100%	$55,489	32
12	Tennessee Technological University	100%	$52,881	38
13	Milligan University	100%	$52,330	12
14	Carson-Newman University	100%	$51,940	21
15	Tusculum University	100%	$49,617	11
16	The University of Tennessee-Martin	100%	$48,905	26
17	Middle Tennessee State University	99%	$53,391	70
18	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville	98%	$63,801	91
19	The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga	98%	$56,558	41
20	Austin Peay State University	98%	$53,388	43
21	East Tennessee State University	96%	$53,352	53
22	Lee University	96%	$45,533	26
23	King University	93%	$59,181	14
24	Cumberland University	93%	$51,366	15
25	South College	92%	$58,199	12

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).

Ranked on one stated metric, the share of a school's programs that clear the benchmark. Schools need at least 10 programs with reported earnings to appear. Note that specialised graduate institutions (medical and health-science centres, for example) often rank at the top because their programs are almost all high-earning; the 'programs measured' column and each school's page give the context.

Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (release 2026-06-10). Earnings are median earnings of graduates measured up to four years after completing, and describe past graduates rather than a promise. Method: methodology. Report an error.