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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering in Tennessee

8 Ranked Colleges
593 Degrees Awarded
$16,200 Avg Net Price*
Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor's in Tennessee

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Tennessee” ranking.

In 2019-2020, 47,598 people earned their degree in mechanical engineering, making the major the 20th most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, mechanical engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $64,495 and had an average of $23,104 in loans still to pay off.

Across Tennessee, there were 672 mechanical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $63,100 and $21,044 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 593 mechanical engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Tennessee” ranking, we looked at 8 colleges that offer a degree in mechanical engineering. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality mechanical engineering programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the mechanical engineering program at the school. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Mechanical Engineering Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Tennessee” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Tennessee

The colleges and universities below are the best for tennessee bachelor’s degree me students.

Top 8 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Mechanical Engineering in Tennessee

#1

Tennessee Technological University

Cookeville, Tennessee

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Tennessee Technological University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Tennessee. This fairly large school is located in Cookeville, Tennessee, and it awarded 151 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2019-2020.

Tennessee Tech University did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Tennessee” list. The yearly cost to attend Tennessee Technological University is $15,929 for tennessee bachelor’s degree me students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 4.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at Tennessee Technological University

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend The University of Tennessee - Knoxville. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Tennessee. UT Knoxville is a large school located in Knoxville, Tennessee that handed out 191 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2019-2020.

UT Knoxville not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Tennessee” list. It costs about $18,825 for Tennessee Bachelor’s Degree ME students per year to attend The University of Tennessee - Knoxville.

The student loan default rate at the school is 4.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 89%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at UT Knoxville

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend The University of Tennessee - Chattanooga. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Tennessee list. Chattanooga, Tennessee is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s ME degrees to 70 students in 2019-2020.

UT Chattanooga did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Tennessee” list. It costs about $12,952 for tennessee bachelor’s degree me students per year to attend UT Chattanooga.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at The University of Tennessee - Chattanooga

#4

Tennessee State University

Nashville, Tennessee

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Tennessee State University. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Tennessee list. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, this medium-sized public school handed out 19 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s ME students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our tennessee bachelor’s degree me students list, Tennessee State University has also earned the #8 rank in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Tennessee” ranking. It costs about $12,443 for Tennessee Bachelor’s Degree ME students per year to attend Tennessee State University.

Full Tennessee State University Mechanical Engineering Report

#5

University of Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Memphis. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Tennessee. University of Memphis is a large school located in Memphis, Tennessee that handed out 44 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2019-2020.

UofM not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #7 on our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Tennessee” list. The estimated yearly cost for University of Memphis is $13,248 for tennessee bachelor’s degree me students.

Read more about Mechanical Engineering at UofM

#6

Christian Brothers University

Memphis, Tennessee

Christian Brothers University landed the #6 spot on the 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Tennessee ranking. This small school is located in Memphis, Tennessee, and it awarded 24 bachelors’s ME degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our tennessee bachelor’s degree me students list, Christian Brothers has also earned the #6 rank in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Tennessee” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Christian Brothers is $11,900 for tennessee bachelor’s degree me students.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Christian Brothers University

#7

Lipscomb University

Nashville, Tennessee

Lipscomb University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Tennessee list. Lipscomb is located in Nashville, Tennessee and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 29 bachelors’s ME degrees to qualified students.

Lipscomb also made our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Tennessee” list, coming in at #5. The yearly cost to attend Lipscomb University is $24,749 for tennessee bachelor’s degree me students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at Lipscomb

#8

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, Tennessee

Vanderbilt University did quite well in the 2022 Best Value ME Schools for a Bachelor’s in Tennessee ranking, coming in at #8. Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit institution located in Nashville, Tennessee. The school has a fairly large population, and it awarded 49 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Vanderbilt also took the #1 spot in our “Best Mechanical Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Tennessee” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Vanderbilt is $19,432 for tennessee bachelor’s degree me students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%. The low student loan default rate of 1.0% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.

Full Vanderbilt University Mechanical Engineering Report

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Notes and References

References

  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

  • *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
  • Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

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