UT Chattanooga Fine and Studio Arts (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Fine and Studio Arts
- Public university
- Chattanooga, TN
- About 42 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
UT Chattanooga fine and studio arts graduates earn about what fine and studio arts graduates earn nationally, $21,766 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $25,000 in federal loans, close to the national median of $25,402. Several Tennessee programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Tennessee and national columns are the medians across all fine and studio arts bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, UT Chattanooga graduates earn about the national figure and about $1,424 more than the Tennessee median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Tennessee fine and studio arts program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Tennessee medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 87% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $4,254 less in their first year than other graduates. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $265 a month, or 14.6% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
90% of graduates (55 of 61) were working in Tennessee one year after graduating. Prices in the Chattanooga area are about 9% below the national average, so a $21,766 salary here buys what about $23,797 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to fine and studio arts, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
$61,860Median pay in Tennessee. 21,230 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 63,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Property Appraisers and Assessors
$62,350Median pay in Tennessee. 1,060 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 5,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Art Directors
$89,860Median pay in Tennessee. 930 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 12,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Photographers
$37,950Median pay in Tennessee. 780 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
About UT Chattanooga
Fine and Studio Arts ranks 23rd of 23 bachelor's programs at UT Chattanooga by first-year earnings. The top three are Electrical Engineering ($75,273), Mechanical Engineering ($66,517), and Civil Engineering ($65,419).
Other fine and studio arts bachelor's programs near Chattanooga
Common questions
The median graduate earns $21,766 one year after graduating and $40,776 five years after. The median across fine and studio arts bachelor's programs in Tennessee is $22,714.
The median federal loan balance is $25,000, which ranks 5th lowest of 8 fine and studio arts bachelor's programs in Tennessee. That works out to about $265 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 115% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 97%. Compare the cost with other Tennessee programs before deciding.
Most do. 90% (55 of 61) were working in Tennessee one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Tennessee comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the fine and studio arts program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024