How this school serves students from different economic backgrounds, including Pell students, first-generation pathways, and long-term mobility outcomes.
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville admits 41.6% of applicants, with admitted students typically scoring between 1,200 and 1,370 on the SAT (middle 50%, interquartile range) and between 25 and 31 on the ACT. Among enrolled undergraduates, 18.9% receive Pell Grants and 24.5% are first-generation college students. Transfer enrollment accounts for 19.2% of the student body, reflecting a meaningful pathway for students who begin their education elsewhere before continuing at Knoxville. Azimuth ranks The University of Tennessee-Knoxville #193 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions. That position reflects the university's broad admission funnel paired with a Pell share that, while present, is more modest than at peer institutions with the highest access rankings. The six-year graduation rate is 73.9%, and 63.4% of Pell-eligible students complete within the same window — a gap worth noting for families evaluating how well the institution supports students who arrive with fewer financial resources. For graduates from low-income backgrounds, median earnings reach $63,000 on a historical ten-year Scorecard measure, placing this cohort in the 86.7 percentile for low-income graduate earnings among nonprofit four-year institutions. Azimuth ranks The University of Tennessee-Knoxville #84 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. The mobility ranking reflects both the earnings outcomes low-income graduates achieve and the scale at which the university serves that population. As explored in Azimuth's analysis of access versus outcomes, institutions like The University of Tennessee-Knoxville that combine broad admission with solid low-income earnings can translate modest per-student advantages into meaningful aggregate mobility — particularly when the Pell cohort is large enough to make those gains count at scale. Freshman retention runs 91.9%, suggesting that students who enroll generally persist through their first year, which is a foundational condition for the graduation and earnings outcomes that follow.
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville admits 41.6% of applicants, with admitted students typically scoring between 1,200 and 1,370 on the SAT (middle 50%, interquartile range) and between 25 and 31 on the ACT. Among enrolled undergraduates, 18.9% receive Pell Grants and 24.5% are first-generation college students. Transfer enrollment accounts for 19.2% of the student body, reflecting a meaningful pathway for students who begin their education elsewhere before continuing at Knoxville. Azimuth ranks The University of Tennessee-Knoxville #193 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions. That position reflects the university's broad admission funnel paired with a Pell share that, while present, is more modest than at peer institutions with the highest access rankings. The six-year graduation rate is 73.9%, and 63.4% of Pell-eligible students complete within the same window — a gap worth noting for families evaluating how well the institution supports students who arrive with fewer financial resources. For graduates from low-income backgrounds, median earnings reach $63,000 on a historical ten-year Scorecard measure, placing this cohort in the 86.7 percentile for low-income graduate earnings among nonprofit four-year institutions. Azimuth ranks The University of Tennessee-Knoxville #84 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. The mobility ranking reflects both the earnings outcomes low-income graduates achieve and the scale at which the university serves that population. As explored in Azimuth's analysis of access versus outcomes, institutions like The University of Tennessee-Knoxville that combine broad admission with solid low-income earnings can translate modest per-student advantages into meaningful aggregate mobility — particularly when the Pell cohort is large enough to make those gains count at scale. Freshman retention runs 91.9%, suggesting that students who enroll generally persist through their first year, which is a foundational condition for the graduation and earnings outcomes that follow.
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville admits 41.6% of applicants, with admitted students typically scoring between 1,200 and 1,370 on the SAT (middle 50%, interquartile range) and between 25 and 31 on the ACT. Among enrolled undergraduates, 18.9% receive Pell Grants and 24.5% are first-generation college students. Transfer enrollment accounts for 19.2% of the student body, reflecting a meaningful pathway for students who begin their education elsewhere before continuing at Knoxville. Azimuth ranks The University of Tennessee-Knoxville #193 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions. That position reflects the university's broad admission funnel paired with a Pell share that, while present, is more modest than at peer institutions with the highest access rankings. The six-year graduation rate is 73.9%, and 63.4% of Pell-eligible students complete within the same window — a gap worth noting for families evaluating how well the institution supports students who arrive with fewer financial resources. For graduates from low-income backgrounds, median earnings reach $63,000 on a historical ten-year Scorecard measure, placing this cohort in the 86.7 percentile for low-income graduate earnings among nonprofit four-year institutions. Azimuth ranks The University of Tennessee-Knoxville #84 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. The mobility ranking reflects both the earnings outcomes low-income graduates achieve and the scale at which the university serves that population. As explored in Azimuth's analysis of access versus outcomes, institutions like The University of Tennessee-Knoxville that combine broad admission with solid low-income earnings can translate modest per-student advantages into meaningful aggregate mobility — particularly when the Pell cohort is large enough to make those gains count at scale. Freshman retention runs 91.9%, suggesting that students who enroll generally persist through their first year, which is a foundational condition for the graduation and earnings outcomes that follow.
