Tennessee has 51 private and 10 public 4-year colleges that enroll 31,187 first-year students yearly. The average tuition of public colleges is $26,215 for in-state students and $36,868 for out-of-state and international students.

Private colleges in Tennessee charge around $29,526 per year in tuition regardless of residency.

In the 2021-2022 academic year, Tennessee provided $92.1 million in financial aid to 19,975 students who enrolled in 4-year colleges for the first time as undergraduates. In addition, the colleges themselves awarded $268.2 million in grants and scholarships to 22,685 students.

Tennessee receives 2.4% of the total pell grant the federal government allocates. In the 2021-2022 academic year, 12,511 4-year college first-year undergraduates were awarded a total amount of $61.3 million in pell grant ($4,796 per student on average), and 13,442 students received a total amount of $72 million in the form of student loans from the federal government ($5,645 per student on average).