Tennessee's "Best Value Colleges" (Memphis, Knoxville: student loans, lawyers, theater)

[JMT]

From the folks at SmartAsset. From their website:

The study compares schools based on a variety of data sources, including starting salary, tuition, living expenses, student retention rate and scholarships awarded.

Their rankings for Tennessee colleges:

institution...public/private...location

1. Vanderbilt University...private...Nashville
2. Christian Brothers University...private...Memphis
3. Tennessee Tech University...public...Cookeville
4. University of Tennessee-Martin...public...Martin
5. Rhodes College...private...Memphis
6. Middle Tennessee State University...public...Murfreesboro
7. Southern Adventist University...private...Collegedale
8. University of Tennessee...public...Knoxville
9. Tennessee State University...public...Nashville
10. University of Memphis...public...Memphis

When it comes to the average starting salaries of their graduates, here's the ranking:

institution...public/private...location...average salary

1. Vanderbilt University...private...Nashville...$67,000
2. Tennessee Tech University...public...Cookeville...$54,900
3. University of Tennessee...public...Knoxville...$52,200
4. Rhodes College...private...Memphis...$52,000
5. Christian Brothers University...private...Memphis...$51,700
6. Lipscomb University...private...Nashville...$50,200
7. University of Memphis...public...Memphis...$49,000
8. Tennessee State University...public...Nashville...$48,800
9. Belmont University...private...Nashville...$48,700
10. Southern Adventist University...private...Collegedale...$48,400

[yellowcat123]

WingsUp

TNTech has always been a great value but Oldham is doing a great job at guiding its growth

[suzytx]

I was under the impression that Vanderbilt, while a great school, is very pricy.

[Hankbills]

Does TN Tech produce a good amount of Engineers? Also interesting that Lipscomb produces higher starting wages than Belmont, as the two schools are just down the road from each other.

[DubbleT]

Interesting to note that the average starting salary for each is within 2k (+/-) of the ones above and below it, with the exception of Vanderbilt which comes in at a whopping 12k above TTU and the others. Leaves me to wonder if that's due to a much superior education or the name prestige.

[Shakeesha]

MTSU would be a better value if it had a medical or law school.

[shinestx]

Originally Posted by suzytx

I was under the impression that Vanderbilt, while a great school, is very pricy.

About a decade ago Vandy implemented a tuition plan across the board based on their students' families ability to pay. Unfortunately, they deploy loans as well as scholarships and other financial aid for it. So if you're against student loans, it's a non-starter. One of my children was accepted there, but we refused to put our child in debt (either way). Haven't regretted that one bit!

[An Einnseanair]

Starting salary is highly dependent on degree. A lot of doctors and engineers graduate from Vanderbilt, along with people paying for future Business connections.

Also, people going for lower-paying degrees such as "History of Art" aren't as willing to pay Vanderbilt prices, unless daddy is writing the checks.

That's why the starting salary is so much higher, not that it's a massively better quality education. It's kind of a self-fulfilling statistic.

[BuffaloHome]

Originally Posted by Shakeesha

MTSU would be a better value if it had a medical or law school.

Originally Posted by An Einnseanair

Starting salary is highly dependent on degree. A lot of doctors and engineers graduate from Vanderbilt, along with people paying for future Business connections.

Also, people going for lower-paying degrees such as "History of Art" aren't as willing to pay Vanderbilt prices, unless daddy is writing the checks.

That's why the starting salary is so much higher, not that it's a massively better quality education. It's kind of a self-fulfilling statistic.

This study uses statistics gathered at Payscale which calculates starting salaries for undergraduates (bachelors degrees only). So no doctors or lawyers or MBA's to skew the stats.

[An Einnseanair]

Originally Posted by BuffaloHome

This study uses statistics gathered at Payscale which calculates starting salaries for undergraduates (bachelors degrees only).

Are you suggesting that someone with, say, a Civil Engineering degree from Vandy will have a higher starting salary than someone with the same degree from UT-Knox or TN-Tech? As a hiring manager I can assure you this is not the case at my engineering firm. A starting engineer is a starting engineer. One of my best employees got his degree from UT-Chatt, which isn't even on the list.

These statistics are almost always driven by:

1. Higher percentages of graduates with high paying degrees (more Engineering and Nursing degrees than Theater degrees); or
2. High-charisma and high-motivation people paying for networking connections which gets them in the door at a higher base because they're friends with the owner's kid.

An average person using this list to justify paying Vandy tuition for a degree in Fine Art when community college + Tenn State will land you the exact same general marketing job isn't very smart.