Tennessee State University

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Tennessee State University

Tennessee State University operates as a public institution located in Nashville, Tennessee (city: large), with a total reported enrollment of 4,848 students of which 7,250 are undergraduates. Institution-level records in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) classify each school by Carnegie category, ownership sector, and urban/rural locale, which is how this profile’s peer group and cost cohort are determined. Tennessee State University is categorized as “16” under the Carnegie classification system, a meaningful signal when comparing like-to-like institutions.

Selectivity and financial signals give context to what applicants can expect. The reported admission rate is 70.1%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 1,000. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $15,796, with published in-state tuition of $8,616 and a Pell grant recipient share of 51.1%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $27,000, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 33.5%, and the first-year retention rate is 33.5%. Graduates earn a median of $42,730 ten years after enrolling, compared with $34,160 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 498100.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 55.7% of graduates earn above the high-school threshold. Treating these numbers as a single snapshot alongside the cost cohort is the standard approach for evaluating ROI under the College Scorecard methodology.