News
Tennessee Tech again ranked as a best national university by U.S. News, placing among top five in the state
Aerial view of the main quad on Tennessee Tech's campus.
For the ninth straight year, Tennessee Tech University is ranked as one of the top universities in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
Tech climbed 35 spots over last year’s finish to tie for a spot among the top five
universities in Tennessee and is ranked among the state’s top two public universities.
The 2024 rankings also show that Tech graduates have the lowest median debt of all
public university graduates in Tennessee.
Overall, Tech earned recognition in eight categories in U.S. News’ 2024 Best Colleges
rankings. In addition to securing a spot among the lists of top national universities
and top public schools, Tech was ranked as a “top performer on social mobility” and
was recognized for its undergraduate business, computer science, engineering and nursing
programs.
Tech was also named to the magazine’s “A+ Schools for B Students” list. The criteria
for this list include high academic quality, high first-year retention rate, high
school class standing and standardized test scores. Tech is the only public university
in the state on the list.
“We are gratified to see further confirmation of what we already know: Tennessee Tech
offers a world-class education to every student on our campus,” said Tech President
Phil Oldham. “While we have been consistently ranked as a top national university
for nearly a decade, this year’s rankings show how our students, faculty and staff
continue to set a higher bar for themselves and our university – climbing 35 spots
over last year’s ranking to claim a spot among the top five universities in Tennessee,
both public and private.”
“Tech continues to demonstrate that a high-quality education can also be affordable,”
added Oldham. “Once again, rankings show that Tech graduates leave campus with the
lowest debt of all public university graduates in the state.”
Across both public and private universities, Tech graduates have the second lowest
median debt in the state. Only 13 universities in Tennessee earned a spot in U.S.
News’ 2024 national universities rankings, including six public universities.
Tech’s College of Business saw the biggest year-to-year spike in rankings, climbing
55 spots on the list of top business programs from the previous year.
The university’s Whitson-Hester School of Nursing, which recently made news for earning
the highest licensure exam pass rate in Tennessee among all nursing schools with 15 or more graduates, climbed 19 spots
on U.S. News’ list of top undergraduate nursing programs. Likewise, Tech’s College
of Engineering climbed 15 spots from the previous year on U.S. News’ list of top engineering
programs.
Tech’s placement on U.S. News’ rankings comes as the university celebrates another
enrollment increase for fall 2023, driven by the fourth largest freshman class in university history,
and as Tech recently announced an all-time record for externally funded research.
According to U.S. News, its 2024 rankings were calculated using 19 key measures of
academic quality for national universities. Learn more at www.usnews.com/best-colleges.
