Contents
Tennessee has 58 four-year degree-granting institutions active in the federal directory — 12 public, 39 private nonprofit, and 7 private for-profit.
The list below is every active, degree-granting institution IPEDS classifies at the four-year level. It is a directory, not a ranking. Two-year colleges, certificate-only schools, and institutions that have closed or stopped reporting are not here.
Four-year institutions
| Institution | City | Control | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Baptist College | Nashville | Private nonprofit | HBCU |
| Austin Peay State University | Clarksville | Public | |
| Baptist Health Sciences University | Memphis | Private nonprofit | |
| Belmont University | Nashville | Private nonprofit | Medical school |
| Bethel University | McKenzie | Private nonprofit | |
| Bryan College-Dayton | Dayton | Private nonprofit | |
| Carson-Newman University | Jefferson City | Private nonprofit | |
| Chattanooga College Medical Dental and & Technical Careers | Chattanooga | Private for-profit | |
| Christian Brothers University | Memphis | Private nonprofit | |
| Cumberland University | Lebanon | Private nonprofit | |
| East Tennessee State University | Johnson City | Public | Medical school |
| Fisk University | Nashville | Private nonprofit | HBCU |
| Freed-Hardeman University | Henderson | Private nonprofit | |
| Galen Health Institutes-Nashville Campus | Nashville | Private for-profit | |
| Herzing University-Nashville | Nashville | Private nonprofit | |
| Johnson University | Knoxville | Private nonprofit | |
| King University | Bristol | Private nonprofit | |
| Lane College | Jackson | Private nonprofit | HBCU |
| Le Moyne-Owen College | Memphis | Private nonprofit | HBCU |
| Lee University | Cleveland | Private nonprofit | |
| Lincoln Memorial University | Harrogate | Private nonprofit | Medical school |
| Lipscomb University | Nashville | Private nonprofit | |
| Maryville College | Maryville | Private nonprofit | |
| Meharry Medical College | Nashville | Private nonprofit | HBCU; Medical school |
| Memphis Theological Seminary | Memphis | Private nonprofit | |
| Mid-South Christian College | Memphis | Private nonprofit | |
| Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia Inc | Madison | Private nonprofit | |
| Middle Tennessee State University | Murfreesboro | Public | |
| Miller-Motte College-Chattanooga | Chattanooga | Private for-profit | |
| Milligan University | Milligan | Private nonprofit | |
| Nossi College of Art and Design | Nashville | Private for-profit | |
| Omega Graduate School | Dayton | Private nonprofit | |
| Pentecostal Theological Seminary | Cleveland | Private nonprofit | |
| Rhodes College | Memphis | Private nonprofit | |
| Richmont Graduate University | Chattanooga | Private nonprofit | |
| SAE Institute of Technology-Nashville | Nashville | Private for-profit | |
| South College | Knoxville | Private for-profit | |
| Southern Adventist University | Collegedale | Private nonprofit | |
| Southern College of Optometry | Memphis | Private nonprofit | |
| Strayer University-Tennessee | Memphis | Private for-profit | |
| Tennessee State University | Nashville | Public | HBCU; Land-grant |
| Tennessee Technological University | Cookeville | Public | |
| Tennessee Wesleyan University | Athens | Private nonprofit | |
| The University of Tennessee Health Science Center | Memphis | Public | Medical school |
| The University of Tennessee Southern | Pulaski | Public | |
| The University of Tennessee System Office | Knoxville | Public | |
| The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga | Chattanooga | Public | |
| The University of Tennessee-Knoxville | Knoxville | Public | Land-grant; Medical school |
| The University of Tennessee-Martin | Martin | Public | |
| The University of the South | Sewanee | Private nonprofit | |
| Trevecca Nazarene University | Nashville | Private nonprofit | |
| Tusculum University | Greeneville | Private nonprofit | |
| Union University | Jackson | Private nonprofit | |
| University of Memphis | Memphis | Public | |
| Vanderbilt University | Nashville | Private nonprofit | Medical school |
| Visible Music College | Memphis | Private nonprofit | |
| Welch College | Gallatin | Private nonprofit | |
| Williamson Christian College | Franklin | Private nonprofit |
Public university systems
System membership as recorded in the IPEDS directory. Counts are of four-year public members in this table only, so a system that also runs two-year campuses will show more members in its own materials.
| System | Four-year public members here |
|---|---|
| The University of Tennessee System | 6 |
Sources
- NCES IPEDS, Institutional Characteristics directory (HD2024) — the federal directory of postsecondary institutions participating in Title IV programs. Every institution, city, control, and system value above is read directly from that file. Retrieved 2026-08-11 from nces.ed.gov/ipeds.
- Filters applied: currently active (
CYACTIVE), degree-granting (DEGGRANT), and institutional level (ICLEVEL). Flags in the Notes column are the IPEDSHBCU,TRIBAL,LANDGRNT, andMEDICALfields.
Institution names are IPEDS legal names and sometimes differ from the name a school markets under. Check the institution's own site before relying on any detail here.
Back to Colleges by state.