Lincoln Memorial University
Private College in Harrogate, TN. Six-year graduation rate 50%. Median 10-year earnings $49,956.
The median ten-year earnings figure of $49,956 sits near the national middle rather than at either extreme. The six-year graduation rate is 50%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Graduates carry a median of $20,000 in debt — in line with the national norm. On economic mobility, 2.1% of students travel from the bottom income quintile to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 63% puts Lincoln Memorial University on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. 3,603 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. A 16% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 12% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 510–610 | 37 (12%) |
| SAT Math | 490–600 | |
| ACT Composite | 18–24 | 202 (63%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Lincoln Memorial University →Academics
50% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. Retention of 72% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. At 10:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,487 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $21,447 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $15,644 while those at $110k+ pay $30,464. Most students get help: 100% receive grants worth $19,989 on average. Federal borrowing reaches 53% of students.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 328 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $15,644 |
| $30–48k | $18,799 |
| $48–75k | $19,993 |
| $75–110k | $25,403 |
| $110k+ | $30,464 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 793 of these 1,487 students, totalling $6,715,136 — an average of $8,468 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Claiborne County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)