Tennessee Technological University
Public Research University in Cookeville, TN. Six-year graduation rate 58%. Median 10-year earnings $48,501.
Students who entered Tennessee Technological University land at a median of $48,501 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 58%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Graduates leave owing a median of $15,650 — modest by four-year standards. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.3% of students move 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.32 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Tennessee Technological University accepts 76% of applicants, which makes it accessible to most students who meet the baseline requirements. 11,538 students applied, a pool deep enough to make the acceptance rate meaningful. About 23% of admitted students enroll, a yield in the normal range. 2% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the class.
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 | 528–650 | 34 (2%) |
| SAT Math | 520–660 | |
| ACT Composite | 20–27 | 1,896 (95%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Tennessee Technological University →Academics
Completion is middling: 58% finish inside six years. First-year retention is 78% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. Transfer-out runs to 20% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. At 16:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 8,504 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $15,336 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $9,815 while those at $110k+ pay $18,936. 82% of students receive grant aid, averaging $10,017 — common but not automatic. About 35% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 1,987 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 | $9,815 |
| $30–48k | $10,445 |
| $48–75k | $13,861 |
| $75–110k | $17,245 |
| $110k+ | $18,936 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,972 of these 8,504 students, totalling $17,666,751 — an average of $5,944 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Putnam 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)