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Rankings / By State

Best Business Colleges in Tennessee

By David Krug, Co-Founder, CollegeRanker · Updated 2026-05-31 · 45 schools · Agent Insights
45
Schools Analyzed
$46,695
Avg. Earnings (10yr)
47%
Avg. Graduation Rate
$16,152
Avg. Net Price

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This ranking scores 45 institutions on graduation rates, graduate earnings, debt burdens, and social mobility data from Opportunity Insights. Every data point comes from federal sources. No surveys, no opinions.

Social mobility carries the heaviest weight in our algorithm. We use Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card — built on 30 million anonymized tax records — to measure whether a college changes a family's economic trajectory across generations. Schools that take low-income students and launch them into higher earnings rank higher than schools that admit wealthy students and take credit for their success.

The transparency penalty matters here. Schools that don't report their data get scored lower than schools that do. If an institution won't show you its numbers, we think you should know that before you write them a tuition check.

Quick Numbers

Schools ranked 45
Avg. earnings at 10yr $46,695
Avg. graduation rate 47%
Avg. net price $16,152
Avg. median debt $20,101

How We Ranked

Business programs in Tennessee ranked by outcomes and program concentration

Read our full methodology →

Earnings vs. Cost

Each dot is a ranked school. Up = higher earnings. Right = higher cost. Top-left is the best value.

$15K$68K$120K$0$50KNET PRICETrevecca NazareneChristian BrothersBethel UniversityMiddle TennesseeTennessee Technological

Graduation Rates

Longer bars = higher graduation rate.

Trevecca Nazarene Univer…54%Christian Brothers Unive…55%Bethel University35%Middle Tennessee State U…54%Tennessee Technological …56%Tennessee Wesleyan Unive…46%Cumberland University46%Lipscomb University70%Milligan University62%Rhodes College83%Tusculum University28%University of Memphis50%Union University68%The University of Tennes…74%King University47%Maryville College49%Austin Peay State Univer…42%Southern Adventist Unive…50%East Tennessee State Uni…52%Lee University62%

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Full Rankings

#1

Trevecca Nazarene University

Nashville, TN · 1,737 students · Private nonprofit

69% accepted 54% graduate $49,378 earnings
Trevecca's full profile
#2

Christian Brothers University

Memphis, TN · 905 students · Private nonprofit

87% accepted 55% graduate $57,478 earnings
Christian's full profile
#3

Bethel University

McKenzie, TN · 1,547 students · Private nonprofit

60% accepted 35% graduate $47,482 earnings
Bethel's full profile
#4

Middle Tennessee State University

Murfreesboro, TN · 16,301 students · Public

69% accepted 54% graduate $48,541 earnings
Middle's full profile
#5

Tennessee Technological University

Cookeville, TN · 8,698 students · Public

76% accepted 56% graduate $48,501 earnings
Tennessee's full profile
#6

Tennessee Wesleyan University

Athens, TN · 846 students · Private nonprofit

69% accepted 46% graduate $45,989 earnings
Tennessee's full profile
#7

Cumberland University

Lebanon, TN · 2,104 students · Private nonprofit

67% accepted 46% graduate $57,687 earnings
Cumberland's full profile
#8

Lipscomb University

Nashville, TN · 2,997 students · Private nonprofit

68% accepted 70% graduate $55,541 earnings
Lipscomb's full profile
#9

Milligan University

Milligan, TN · 818 students · Private nonprofit

72% accepted 62% graduate $46,641 earnings
Milligan's full profile
#10

Rhodes College

Memphis, TN · 1,836 students · Private nonprofit

50% accepted 83% graduate $66,651 earnings
Rhodes's full profile
#11

Tusculum University

Greeneville, TN · 785 students · Private nonprofit

72% accepted 28% graduate $44,367 earnings
Tusculum's full profile
#12

University of Memphis

Memphis, TN · 12,701 students · Public

72% accepted 50% graduate $48,458 earnings
University's full profile
#13

Union University

Jackson, TN · 1,607 students · Private nonprofit

60% accepted 68% graduate $53,990 earnings
Union's full profile
#14

The University of Tennessee-Knoxville

Knoxville, TN · 30,418 students · Public

42% accepted 74% graduate $60,249 earnings
The's full profile
#15

King University

Bristol, TN · 908 students · Private nonprofit

100% accepted 47% graduate $59,831 earnings
King's full profile
#16

Maryville College

Maryville, TN · 1,005 students · Private nonprofit

61% accepted 49% graduate $49,279 earnings
Maryville's full profile
#17

Austin Peay State University

Clarksville, TN · 7,560 students · Public

96% accepted 42% graduate $44,301 earnings
Austin's full profile
#18

Southern Adventist University

Collegedale, TN · 2,773 students · Private nonprofit

66% accepted 50% graduate $53,723 earnings
Southern's full profile
#19

East Tennessee State University

Johnson City, TN · 10,004 students · Public

86% accepted 52% graduate $44,859 earnings
East's full profile
#20

Lee University

Cleveland, TN · 2,617 students · Private nonprofit

71% accepted 62% graduate $43,222 earnings
Lee's full profile
#21

The University of the South

Sewanee, TN · 1,607 students · Private nonprofit

57% accepted 81% graduate $64,911 earnings
The's full profile
#22

The University of Tennessee Southern

Pulaski, TN · 864 students · Public

87% accepted 36% graduate $38,924 earnings
The's full profile
#23

Belmont University

Nashville, TN · 7,137 students · Private nonprofit

95% accepted 71% graduate $55,930 earnings
Belmont's full profile
#24

Volunteer State Community College

Gallatin, TN · 5,339 students · Public

26% graduate $41,150 earnings
Volunteer's full profile
#25

Tennessee State University

Nashville, TN · 4,848 students · Public

70% accepted 33% graduate $42,730 earnings
Tennessee's full profile
#26

Lincoln Memorial University

Harrogate, TN · 1,572 students · Private nonprofit

63% accepted 52% graduate $49,956 earnings
Lincoln's full profile
#27

Johnson University

Knoxville, TN · 743 students · Private nonprofit

65% accepted 59% graduate $40,596 earnings
Johnson's full profile
#28

Columbia State Community College

Columbia, TN · 3,897 students · Public

30% graduate $40,256 earnings
Columbia's full profile
#29

The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga

Chattanooga, TN · 10,074 students · Public

81% accepted 52% graduate $51,151 earnings
The's full profile
#30

Pellissippi State Community College

Knoxville, TN · 6,715 students · Public

30% graduate $38,440 earnings
Pellissippi's full profile
#31

Roane State Community College

Harriman, TN · 3,250 students · Public

34% graduate $39,407 earnings
Roane's full profile
#32

Northeast State Community College

Blountville, TN · 4,404 students · Public

33% graduate $34,553 earnings
Northeast's full profile
#33

Chattanooga State Community College

Chattanooga, TN · 5,284 students · Public

24% graduate $37,598 earnings
Chattanooga's full profile
#34

Bryan College-Dayton

Dayton, TN · 814 students · Private nonprofit

53% graduate $54,434 earnings
Bryan's full profile
#35

Nashville State Community College

Nashville, TN · 5,653 students · Public

18% graduate $38,519 earnings
Nashville's full profile
#36

The University of Tennessee-Martin

Martin, TN · 4,866 students · Public

88% accepted 54% graduate $44,213 earnings
The's full profile
#37

Carson-Newman University

Jefferson City, TN · 1,387 students · Private nonprofit

90% accepted 50% graduate $48,382 earnings
Carson-Newman's full profile
#38

Le Moyne-Owen College

Memphis, TN · 581 students · Private nonprofit

99% accepted 26% graduate $35,594 earnings
Le's full profile
#39

Freed-Hardeman University

Henderson, TN · 1,212 students · Private nonprofit

60% accepted 70% graduate $47,485 earnings
Freed-Hardeman's full profile
#40

Lane College

Jackson, TN · 736 students · Private nonprofit

18% graduate $31,670 earnings
Lane's full profile
#41

Walters State Community College

Morristown, TN · 3,591 students · Public

35% graduate $37,085 earnings
Walters's full profile
#42

Motlow State Community College

Tullahoma, TN · 3,962 students · Public

31% graduate $40,397 earnings
Motlow's full profile
#43

Fisk University

Nashville, TN · 1,035 students · Private nonprofit

37% accepted 35% graduate $45,454 earnings
Fisk's full profile
#44

Southwest Tennessee Community College

Memphis, TN · 5,047 students · Public

19% graduate $34,071 earnings
Southwest's full profile
#45

Welch College

Gallatin, TN · 226 students · Private nonprofit

57% graduate $42,198 earnings
Welch's full profile

Sources & Citations

[1]

U.S. Department of Education. College Scorecard Data. Federal Student Aid, National Center for Education Statistics.

[2]

National Center for Education Statistics. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).

DK

David Krug

Co-Founder, CollegeRanker

David Krug is the co-founder of CollegeRanker and a data systems architect focused on making institutional research accessible to families. He builds the data pipelines and ranking algorithms that power CollegeRanker, drawing from federal datasets and Raj Chetty's Opportunity Insights research to measure what traditional rankings ignore: whether a college actually changes a family's economic trajectory.