State report: Tennessee Tech boasts highest retention, graduation rates among LGIs
Students walk along Tennessee Tech’s main quad. Robert and Gloria Bell Hall, home
to Tech’s Whitson-Hester School of Nursing, is seen in the background.
Tennessee Tech University is home to the highest freshmen retention rate, highest
four-year graduation rate and highest incoming student ACT scores among all Locally
Governed Institutions (LGIs) in the state, according to the Tennessee Higher Education
Commission’s (THEC) 2025 Fact Book.
The annual report found that Tech’s incoming freshmen for fall 2024 notched an average
ACT score of 23.7 – outperforming freshmen at the state’s five other LGIs, including
Austin Peay State University, East Tennessee State University, Middle Tennessee State
University, Tennessee State University and University of Memphis. When all public
institutions are included, Tech ranks in the top two statewide.
THEC additionally highlighted the increase in Tech’s four-year graduation rate, noting
that, “The four-year (on-time) graduation rate for first-time, full-time freshmen who started
at Tennessee Tech in fall 2018 is up almost six percentage points compared to the
fall 2017 cohort.”
When students who entered Tech in the fall of 2020 are evaluated, Tech had the highest
four-year graduation rate among all LGIs. Likewise, Tech had the highest six-year
LGI graduation rate among students who entered Tech in the fall of 2018. Tech also
boasts the highest fall-to-fall retention rate among LGIs at 83.9%, far exceeding
the state higher education average of 71.6%.
“This report is proof positive that ‘students first’ is not just a slogan at Tennessee
Tech, but a mission that our faculty and staff live out every day,” said Tech President
Phil Oldham. “THEC’s findings show that Tennessee Tech continues to attract some of
the best and brightest students in the state, and that these students remain on our
campus and follow through to complete their degrees at rates well above the state
average.”
Elsewhere in the report, THEC data showed that Tech graduates left campus with the
lowest debt of all public university graduates in the state and that, 10 years after
entry to the university, former Tech students had the highest median earnings among
all LGIs.
Tech also tied for the highest licensure and certification exam pass rate among all
public universities in the state. The findings showed that graduates of Tech’s College
of Education and Human Sciences scored a rare 100% pass rate for education licensure
exams, while graduates of the Whitson-Hester School of Nursing earned a near-perfect
97% pass rate on their licensure exams.
Learn more about THEC’s 2025 Fact Book and read the full report at https://www.tn.gov/thec/news/2025/6/5/thec-releases-2025-tennessee-higher-education-fact-book.html.