The University
of Tennessee Southern
Public College in Pulaski, TN. Six-year graduation rate 37%. Median 10-year earnings $38,924.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $38,924, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Only 37% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Median debt at graduation is $21,500, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree. It also moves people — 3.6% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution 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
With an acceptance rate of 87%, The University of Tennessee Southern takes nearly everyone who applies. Only 760 students applied, so treat these rates as directional — small pools swing sharply between cycles. About 26% of admitted students enroll, a yield in the normal range. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 6% 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 | 435–555 | 11 (6%) |
| SAT Math | 470–555 | |
| ACT Composite | 18–24 | 154 (90%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at The University of Tennessee Southern →Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 37% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. Retention of 77% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. With 31% transferring out, this functions substantially as a stepping stone. A 14:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 827 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $14,546 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Income makes less difference than usual: $9,335 at $0–30k, $17,135 at $110k+. Most students get help: 98% receive grants worth $9,214 on average. 31% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
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 · 184 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 | $9,335 |
| $30–48k | $12,071 |
| $48–75k | $15,343 |
| $75–110k | $17,336 |
| $110k+ | $17,135 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 254 of these 827 students, totalling $1,363,206 — an average of $5,367 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Giles 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)