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Rankings / By State

Best Psychology Colleges in Tennessee

By David Krug, Co-Founder, CollegeRanker · Updated 2026-05-31 · 28 schools · Agent Insights
28
Schools Analyzed
$51,966
Avg. Earnings (10yr)
56%
Avg. Graduation Rate
$19,551
Avg. Net Price

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This ranking scores 28 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 28
Avg. earnings at 10yr $51,966
Avg. graduation rate 56%
Avg. net price $19,551
Avg. median debt $21,891

How We Ranked

Psychology 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 PRICEVanderbilt UniversityThe UniversityChristian BrothersTrevecca NazareneRhodes College

Graduation Rates

Longer bars = higher graduation rate.

Vanderbilt University93%The University of the So…81%Christian Brothers Unive…55%Trevecca Nazarene Univer…54%Rhodes College83%Middle Tennessee State U…54%Austin Peay State Univer…42%Lipscomb University70%Johnson University59%East Tennessee State Uni…52%University of Memphis50%Tennessee Wesleyan Unive…46%Southern Adventist Unive…50%Lee University62%Maryville College49%King University47%Cumberland University46%Milligan University62%Tusculum University28%Lincoln Memorial Univers…52%

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Full Rankings

#1

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN · 7,208 students · Private nonprofit

6% accepted 93% graduate $91,565 earnings
Vanderbilt's full profile
#2

The University of the South

Sewanee, TN · 1,607 students · Private nonprofit

57% accepted 81% graduate $64,911 earnings
The's full profile
#3

Christian Brothers University

Memphis, TN · 905 students · Private nonprofit

87% accepted 55% graduate $57,478 earnings
Christian's full profile
#4

Trevecca Nazarene University

Nashville, TN · 1,737 students · Private nonprofit

69% accepted 54% graduate $49,378 earnings
Trevecca's full profile
#5

Rhodes College

Memphis, TN · 1,836 students · Private nonprofit

50% accepted 83% graduate $66,651 earnings
Rhodes's full profile
#6

Middle Tennessee State University

Murfreesboro, TN · 16,301 students · Public

69% accepted 54% graduate $48,541 earnings
Middle's full profile
#7

Austin Peay State University

Clarksville, TN · 7,560 students · Public

96% accepted 42% graduate $44,301 earnings
Austin'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

Johnson University

Knoxville, TN · 743 students · Private nonprofit

65% accepted 59% graduate $40,596 earnings
Johnson's full profile
#10

East Tennessee State University

Johnson City, TN · 10,004 students · Public

86% accepted 52% graduate $44,859 earnings
East's full profile
#11

University of Memphis

Memphis, TN · 12,701 students · Public

72% accepted 50% graduate $48,458 earnings
University's full profile
#12

Tennessee Wesleyan University

Athens, TN · 846 students · Private nonprofit

69% accepted 46% graduate $45,989 earnings
Tennessee's full profile
#13

Southern Adventist University

Collegedale, TN · 2,773 students · Private nonprofit

66% accepted 50% graduate $53,723 earnings
Southern's full profile
#14

Lee University

Cleveland, TN · 2,617 students · Private nonprofit

71% accepted 62% graduate $43,222 earnings
Lee's full profile
#15

Maryville College

Maryville, TN · 1,005 students · Private nonprofit

61% accepted 49% graduate $49,279 earnings
Maryville's full profile
#16

King University

Bristol, TN · 908 students · Private nonprofit

100% accepted 47% graduate $59,831 earnings
King's full profile
#17

Cumberland University

Lebanon, TN · 2,104 students · Private nonprofit

67% accepted 46% graduate $57,687 earnings
Cumberland's full profile
#18

Milligan University

Milligan, TN · 818 students · Private nonprofit

72% accepted 62% graduate $46,641 earnings
Milligan's full profile
#19

Tusculum University

Greeneville, TN · 785 students · Private nonprofit

72% accepted 28% graduate $44,367 earnings
Tusculum's full profile
#20

Lincoln Memorial University

Harrogate, TN · 1,572 students · Private nonprofit

63% accepted 52% graduate $49,956 earnings
Lincoln's full profile
#21

The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga

Chattanooga, TN · 10,074 students · Public

81% accepted 52% graduate $51,151 earnings
The's full profile
#22

The University of Tennessee-Knoxville

Knoxville, TN · 30,418 students · Public

42% accepted 74% graduate $60,249 earnings
The's full profile
#23

Tennessee State University

Nashville, TN · 4,848 students · Public

70% accepted 33% graduate $42,730 earnings
Tennessee's full profile
#24

Freed-Hardeman University

Henderson, TN · 1,212 students · Private nonprofit

60% accepted 70% graduate $47,485 earnings
Freed-Hardeman's full profile
#25

Carson-Newman University

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

90% accepted 50% graduate $48,382 earnings
Carson-Newman's full profile
#26

Bryan College-Dayton

Dayton, TN · 814 students · Private nonprofit

53% graduate $54,434 earnings
Bryan's full profile
#27

Fisk University

Nashville, TN · 1,035 students · Private nonprofit

37% accepted 35% graduate $45,454 earnings
Fisk's full profile
#28

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.