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The University of the South Data & Information Overview

Fair Price Value for Your Money
57% Acceptance Rate
3% Student Loan Default Rate

This overview covers the essential stats on The University of the South, including its rankings, majors, diversity, and more.

Want to dig deeper into a particular stat? Just click on its tile and you’ll be taken to a more in-depth page on the figure. In addition, you can use the links below to quickly jump to any section on this page.

* Rankings

How Does The University of the South Stack Up?

#309 Best Colleges in Nation
#6 Best Colleges in TN
The University of the South ranking badge

2026 College 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.

National Standing

According to College Factual’s 2026 analysis, The University of the South is ranked #309 out of 3,449 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality.

The University of the South also holds the #6 spot on the Best Colleges in Tennessee ranking.

See all of the rankings for The University of the South.

How Difficult Is Admission to The University of the South?

57% Acceptance Rate
61% Of Accepted Are Women
17% Submit SAT Scores

Getting Accepted

The acceptance rate at The University of the South is a competitive 57%, so make sure you take your application seriously when putting it together. Even leaving out a minor detail could be a reason to move you to the rejection pile.

SAT and ACT Scores

About 17% of students accepted to The University of the South submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 640 and 710. Math scores were between 620 and 680.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for The University of the South  ( 640 to 710 )
200
800
SAT Math Scores for The University of the South  ( 620 to 680 )
200
800

The University of the South received ACT scores from 37% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 27 and 31.

ACT Composite Scores for The University of the South  ( 27 to 31 )
1
36

Learn more about The University of the South admissions.

Instructors at The University of the South

9 to 1 Student to Faculty
89% Full Time Teachers

Faculty Accessibility

At The University of the South, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 9 to 1. That’s much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunities to work closely with their professors and classmates.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.

The full-time faculty percentage at The University of the South is 89%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  89 out of 100
0
100

Academic Performance at The University of the South

88% Freshmen Retention
82% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshman Success

The freshmen retention rate of 88% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like The University of the South enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That’s certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  88 out of 100
0
100

Time to Degree

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At The University of the South the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 82%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  82 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at The University of the South.

Diversity Profile of The University of the South

1,598 Undergraduate Students
13.6% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
54.1% Percent Women

In the current academic year, there are 1,598 undergraduates at The University of the South.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at The University of the South.

Cost of Attending The University of the South

$16,772 Net Price
34% Take Out Loans
$23,940 Total Student Loans

The overall average net price of The University of the South is $16,772. 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 The University of the South

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$10,970 $14,429 $18,421 $26,923 $37,122

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 price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of The University of the South, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student 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 The University of the South, approximately 34% of students took out student loans averaging $5,985 a year. That adds up to $23,940 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 3.0%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you’ll be able to pay back your student loans. Get more details about paying for The University of the South.

What Do The University of the South Alumni Earn?

$64,911 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost

Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from The University of the South with a bachelor’s degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $64,911 in their early years. That’s great news for The University of the South students since it is 32% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.

See which majors at The University of the South make the most money.

Location of The University of the South

Tennessee State
1,598 Undergraduate Students
Rural Campus Setting

The University of the South is an private not-for-profit institution situated in Sewanee, Tennessee. Students who love country life may enjoy the rural location of The University of the South. Get more details about the location of The University of the South.

Location of The University of the South

Contact details for The University of the South are listed below.

Contact Details
Address: 735 University Avenue, Sewanee, TN 37383-1000
Phone: 9315981000
Website: www.sewanee.edu
Facebook: facebook.com/sewanee
Twitter: twitter.com/univofthesouth

The University of the South Areas of Study

17 Majors With Completions
980 Undergraduate Degrees

In the most recent reporting year, students from 17 majors graduated from The University of the South. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Completions Average Salary of Graduates
Multi-Disciplinary Studies 490 NA
General Psychology 53 $31,230
Economics 51 $50,532
Literature 41 NA
General Biology 34 NA
Political Science & Government 30 $38,235
International Studies 28 NA
Sustainability Science 27 NA
Theological & Ministerial Studies 27 $71,807
Finance & Financial Management 20 NA

Learn more about the majors offered at The University of the South along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Similar InstitutionsInterested in comparing The University of the South? Match them up using College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare colleges 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

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