Public colleges and universities account for almost 75 percent of all undergraduate students in the U.S. The best public colleges in Tennessee provide broad access to reputable degree programs, affordable tuition, and sprawling educational communities.
About one third of the higher learning institutes in Tennessee are public schools. Students who attend these schools can expect to pay anywhere between $4,000 to $13,000 in tuition and have the option to pursue degrees in fields such as economics, history, nursing, literature, education, and criminal justice. Tennessee’s largest public school, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, boasts some impressive alumni, including Oprah Winfrey, Kurt Vonnegut, and Cormac McCarthy. The private school alumni are equally as notable. For example, author James Patterson and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus both attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
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Tennessee also offers nearly 30 religiously affiliated schools, the largest being Belmont University in Nashville, located just blocks from the famous Music Row. Here, students can study a wide range of fields including Christian leadership, audio engineering technology, and biophysics. Additionally, Tennessee offers students several loan forgiveness programs. Math and science teachers, minority teachers, and registered nurses interested in becoming teachers or administrators who meet certain requirements may be eligible.
Tennessee is home to mouthwatering barbecues, electrified blues, and the sweeping majesty of the Smoky Mountains National Park. And with access to countless historic sites, unique museums, and lush green spaces, students attending one of the more than 60 colleges and universities in The Volunteer State will have plenty to do and see in their downtime.
Discover more about the top programs and higher education learning opportunities available in Tennessee.
Public and private colleges and universities operate under different business models — one is a private company with private funding; the other is owned by the state and receives both state and federal funding to operate. If you’re weighing the pros and cons of private vs. public college, consider that many public colleges provide diverse course offerings, influential professors, and an excellent return on your investment.
Public colleges are schools that receive most of their funding from tax revenues. As a result, the cost of a four-year degree at a public university is often lower than the equivalent cost at a private college — especially for students attending a public school in their home state. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the average annual cost (tuition, fees, room and board for full-time students) at a four-year public university was slightly over $20,000. In contrast, private universities cost, on average, nearly $43,000 annually.
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why, at the undergraduate level, we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call “Concentrated Influence”. Concentrated Influence takes the combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers (including faculty and alums) and divides it by the school’s total number of undergraduates.
Using concentrated influence gives small and mid-sized schools an opportunity to shine by taking away the size advantage of larger universities. A small school with proportionately more influential faculty than a large school, whose influence in absolute terms may be bigger, will nonetheless score higher in a concentrated influence ranking. Our approach highlights undergraduate schools that truly rank for excellence, regardless of size.
If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
This list is composed entirely of public colleges and universities that offer four-year undergraduate degrees. We’ve identified 9 public universities in Tennessee, all of which satisfy our criteria. The list below of the best public universities in the state satisfies the following four conditions:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
71%
Student body
27K
Median SAT/ACT
1240/27
University of Tennessee’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Graduation
26%
Student body
7K
Tennessee State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
94%
Graduation
51%
Student body
18K
Median SAT/ACT
1135/23
Middle Tennessee State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
52%
Student body
17K
Median SAT/ACT
1120/22
University of Memphis’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
54%
Student body
6K
University of Tennessee at Martin’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
83%
Graduation
50%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/23
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
57%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1125/24
Tennessee Technological University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
50%
Student body
12K
Median SAT/ACT
1075/23
East Tennessee State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
91%
Graduation
48%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1065/21
Austin Peay State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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