Bethel University Data & Information Overview
Want the scoop on Bethel University? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors Bethel offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more. If you’re interested in learning more about a particular stat, just click on its tile to go to a new page that covers the topic more in-depth. Also, you can jump to any section of this page by clicking one of the links below.- Rankings
- Admission and Acceptance
- Faculty
- Retention and Graduation Rates
- Diversity
- Cost
- Student Debt
- Average Earnings
- Location
- Majors
- Online Learning
- Related Schools
How Well Is Bethel University Ranked?
2023 Rankings
In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.
Bethel University was awarded 78 badges in the 2023 rankings.
Overall Quality
College Factual ranked Bethel as #1,217 out of 2,241 colleges and universities in the country on its 2023 Best Colleges list. This is an improvement over the previous year, when Bethel held the #1,539 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.
Bethel also holds the #22 spot on the Best Colleges in Tennessee ranking.
See all of the rankings for Bethel University.
Is It Hard to Get Into Bethel?
Acceptance Rate
Bethel University has an acceptance rate of 76%, which makes it somewhat selective. Make sure it's not the only school you apply to, even if it's your school of choice. Whether you get in or not will largely depend on how you compare to other applicants.
Average Test Scores
About 12% of students accepted to Bethel submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 440 and 555. Math scores were between 440 and 540.
Learn more about Bethel University admissions.
Bethel University Faculty
Student to Faculty Ratio
With a student to faculty ratio of 15 to 1, Bethel University is about average in this regard as the nationwide rate is 15 to 1. While this does not translate directly to class size, it's a good indicator of how much time professors will have to spend with their students on a one-on-one basis.
Percent of Full-Time Faculty
When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at Bethel University is 100%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
Retention and Graduation Rates at Bethel University
Freshmen Retention Rate
The freshmen retention rate is a sign of how many full-time students like a college or university well enough to come back for their sophomore year. At Bethel University this rate is 61%, which is a bit lower than the national average of 68%.
Graduation Rate
When we say that a student has graduated on time, we mean that they have finished their bachelor's degree within four years. The on-time graduation rate at Bethel is 14%. That's lower than the national rate of 33.3%
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Bethel University.
Bethel University Undergraduate Student Diversity
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 3,457 undergraduates at Bethel with 2,190 being full-time and 1,267 being part-time.
How Much Does Bethel University Cost?
The overall average net price of Bethel is $15,717. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.Net Price by Income Group for Bethel
$0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
---|---|---|---|---|
$14,708 | $14,779 | $17,690 | $18,108 | $17,860 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Bethel, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Student Loan Debt
While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Bethel, approximately 73% of students took out student loans averaging $5,786 a year. That adds up to $23,144 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at Bethel is 9.8%. This is about the same as the national default rate of 10.1%.
Get more details about paying for Bethel University.
How Much Money Do Bethel Graduates Make?
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor's degree recipients from Bethel make around $40,767 per year during the early years of their employment. This is in the same neighborhood of the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year. However, certain majors may produce higher-paying graduates.
See which majors at Bethel University make the most money.
Location of Bethel University
Bethel University is a private not-for-profit institution located in McKenzie, Tennessee. The surrounding location of McKenzie is ideal for students who enjoy the charms of a college town.Get more details about the location of Bethel University.

Contact details for Bethel are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | 325 Cherry Ave, McKenzie, TN 38201 |
Phone: | 731-352-4000 |
Website: | www.bethelu.edu/ |
Facebook: | http://www.facebook.com/bethelu |
Twitter: | https://twitter.com/betheluniv |
Bethel University Majors
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 34 majors graduated from Bethel University. Of these students, 563 received undergraduate degrees and 216 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
---|---|---|
Business Administration & Management | 208 | $46,354 |
Criminal Justice & Corrections | 112 | $47,898 |
Homeland Security | 36 | NA |
Health & Physical Education | 16 | NA |
General Psychology | 15 | NA |
Accounting | 12 | NA |
Nursing | 10 | $57,927 |
Teacher Education Grade Specific | 9 | NA |
Human Services | 6 | NA |
General Biology | 6 | NA |
Online Learning at Bethel
Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.
In 2019-2020, 1,752 students took at least one online class at Bethel University. This is an increase from the 1,582 students who took online classes the previous year.
Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
---|---|---|
2019-2020 | 1,752 | 1,711 |
2018-2019 | 1,582 | 1,582 |
2017-2018 | 3,439 | 2,438 |
2016-2017 | 3,240 | 2,927 |
2015-2016 | 5,825 | 3,040 |
Learn more about online learning at Bethel University.
Find Out More About Bethel University
Related Schools
If you’re considering Bethel University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.
- Brewton - Parker College
- Catawba College
- Greensboro College
- University of Mount Olive
- Reinhardt University
Curious on how these schools stack up against Bethel? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!
Notes and References
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
References
- National Center for Education Statistics
- College Scorecard
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
- Image Credit: By Beyond My Ken under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.