University of Tennessee Nursing (BSN): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing
- Public university
- Knoxville, TN
- About 239 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
University of Tennessee nursing graduates earn less than graduates of most nursing programs nationally, $65,298 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $23,292 in federal loans, less than at 79% of nursing programs in the country. Debt is low, but pay is also below the Tennessee median of $67,072.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Tennessee and national columns are the medians across all nursing bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, University of Tennessee graduates earn less than the national figure and about the same as the Tennessee median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Tennessee nursing 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.
Some nursing bachelor's programs are for nurses who are already licensed and working (RN-to-BSN). College Scorecard counts them with programs for new students, and their graduates' pay reflects years of nursing experience, so high pay at a program here may not mean higher starting pay for a new nurse.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 14% between the first and fifth year. Registered nurses in Tennessee earn a median of $81,500 across all experience levels, which shows how much room there is to grow after the first few years.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate. BLS figures cover registered nurses at every experience level.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned about the same in their first year as other graduates, but borrowed more: a median of $25,514 against $19,511.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $247 a month, or 4.5% 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. Separately, 39 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $22,316.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
79% of graduates (210 of 265) were working in Tennessee one year after graduating. Prices in the Knoxville area are about 7% below the national average, so a $65,298 salary here buys what about $70,540 buys in a typical US city.
The median Tennessee RN earns $81,500, compared with a national median of $97,550. After adjusting for Tennessee prices, that pay is worth about $88,712, which puts Tennessee behind.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to nursing, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Registered Nurses
$81,500Median pay in Tennessee. 72,200 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 180,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Medical and Health Services Managers
$107,120Median pay in Tennessee. 14,160 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 24% from 2025 to 2035, with about 62,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Nurse Practitioners
$117,590Median pay in Tennessee. 12,150 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 41% from 2025 to 2035, with about 29,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
Nurse Anesthetists
$211,450Median pay in Tennessee. 1,690 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 2,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
About University of Tennessee
Nursing ranks 8th of 55 bachelor's programs at University of Tennessee by first-year earnings. The top three are Chemical Engineering ($76,302), Electrical Engineering ($75,316), and Computer Engineering ($74,085).
Other nursing bachelor's programs near Knoxville
Common questions
The median graduate earns $65,298 one year after graduating and $74,229 five years after. Registered nurses in the Knoxville metro area earn a median of $77,240 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $23,292, which ranks 2nd lowest of 26 nursing bachelor's programs in Tennessee. That works out to about $247 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 36% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 36%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Tennessee programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 79% (210 of 265) 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 nursing 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