💰 Cost of Attendance at University of Tennessee Southern 2026-2027
📅 2027–2028 Planning Note: The costs below reflect the most recently published figures (2026–2027). Universities typically finalize the next year’s rates in the spring, and we’ll update this page once official 2027–2028 numbers are released.
Planning tip: At large public universities, tuition, fees, and housing usually increase modestly each year (often in the 2–5% range). For early budgeting, families may want to plan for roughly $1,000–$1,500 more in-state or $2,000–$3,000 more out-of-state in total direct costs once new rates are published.
| Category (2026–2027) |
In-State |
Out-of-State |
| Tuition & Mandatory Fees (2 semesters) |
$11,264 |
$11,264 |
| Housing & Meals (typical) |
$10,331 |
$10,331 |
| Total (Direct Costs) |
$21,595 |
$21,595 |
Average Federal Net Price: $15,725 — this is what families actually paid after grants and scholarships (no loans), based on the most recent federal data. Your specific cost could be significantly lower or higher depending on your financial aid eligibility and merit scholarships. New to Net Price & SAI? Read our guide.
📌 Regional Tuition & Waiver Options
UT Southern has no broad undergraduate out-of-state waiver program, for a simple reason: it does not charge out-of-state tuition at all. Every undergraduate, regardless of home state, pays the in-state rate of roughly $11,264 per year in tuition and mandatory fees. There is no non-resident surcharge to waive, no border-county program, and no separate application or residency petition to file. That also means the usual reciprocity levers are irrelevant here: we found no SREB Academic Common Market listing for UT Southern, and it would not save an out-of-state family anything if there were. For families comparing UT campuses, this is the single biggest structural difference between UT Southern and UT Knoxville, Chattanooga, or Martin, all of which do charge a non-resident rate. Note that the UT Promise last-dollar tuition guarantee is a separate program and remains restricted to Tennessee residents.
📌 A note on which year these numbers come from
UT Southern has not yet posted a 2026–2027 cost of attendance sheet. The figures in the table above are the university’s officially published 2025–2026 rates, taken directly from its Cost of Attendance document: $9,930 in tuition plus $1,334 in required fees, which is where the $11,264 comes from, and $5,651 in housing plus $4,680 in meals, which is where the $10,331 comes from. We will refresh this page when the new sheet is released. For budgeting, plan on a modest increase rather than assuming these hold flat.
One more wrinkle worth knowing: UT Southern’s own website currently shows tuition and fees two different ways, $11,246 on one page and $11,264 on another. The official Cost of Attendance document says $11,264, so that is the number we use.
Why the In-State and Out-of-State Columns Are Identical
That is not a typo and it is not a rounding error. UT Southern does not charge a non-resident rate. Every undergraduate pays the in-state price regardless of home state. At most public universities the out-of-state premium runs ten to twenty thousand dollars a year, so this one structural decision is worth more to an out-of-state family than any scholarship on this page. Stack a $6,000 Provost’s Scholar award on top of it and a student from Illinois or Texas can end up paying less at UT Southern than at their own state flagship.
FAQ — Cost of Attendance at UT Southern
Is it really true that out-of-state students pay in-state tuition?
Yes, and the university says so plainly on its own cost page. There is no non-resident surcharge, no border-county rule, no residency petition, and no form to file. You apply, you get in, you are billed at the in-state rate. The only thing that stays Tennessee-only is UT Promise, which is a separate state-connected program.
Does UT Southern participate in the Academic Common Market or any regional reciprocity program?
No, and it would not matter if it did. Reciprocity programs exist to knock down out-of-state tuition. When there is no out-of-state tuition to knock down, there is nothing for the program to do. If you are comparing UT Southern against a school that offers Academic Common Market pricing, run the actual dollar figures rather than assuming the reciprocity school wins.
Why do I see net price numbers online ranging from about $6,800 to nearly $16,800?
Because different sources measure different things and different years. Some report the average for all students, some only first-time full-time students, some only students who received grant aid. The federal figure we show is the standard IPEDS calculation. None of them tell you what your family will pay. The net price calculator on UT Southern’s site is the only estimate tailored to your numbers, and it takes about fifteen minutes.
What is the difference between direct costs and the full cost of attendance?
Direct costs are what the university actually bills you: tuition, fees, housing, and meals. Cost of attendance adds estimates for books, transportation, personal spending, and loan fees, which UT Southern puts at roughly $6,000 more for a student living on campus. Aid eligibility is calculated against the bigger number, but the bigger number is not what shows up on your statement.
Does living off campus save money?
Not according to the university’s own budget. UT Southern estimates roughly $9,000 for off-campus housing against $5,651 for a campus room, which makes on-campus the cheaper option on paper. Living at home is the genuinely cheap path, and their budget reflects that too.
Is there an application fee?
No. UT Southern charges nothing to apply, which makes it a genuinely free school to add to a list. If your student is on the fence, there is no financial reason not to submit.
Will tuition go up while my student is enrolled?
Almost certainly, though UT Southern’s increases have historically been modest. The more useful thing to know is that merit scholarship amounts are fixed dollar figures that renew for up to eight semesters. A $3,000 award is $3,000 in year four too, which means it covers a slightly smaller share of the bill each year.
When is the FAFSA deadline?
File by April 15 to be considered for Tennessee state aid. That date matters more here than at most schools, because HOPE and Pell money arrives before UT Southern’s own scholarships under the last-dollar rule.
Sources:
https://utsouthern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Cost_of_Attendance_2025-2026_Accessible.pdf
https://utsouthern.edu/cost-and-aid/no-out-of-state-tuition/
https://utsouthern.edu/cost-and-aid/net-cost-calculator/
📅 UT Southern Scholarship Timeline (Simple Version)
- November 1: Priority admissions deadline. This is the date tied to scholarship consideration, even though the admissions pages themselves list no deadline.
- December 15: UT Promise application closes for Tennessee seniors. The separate TN Promise application must already be done by November 1.
- As early as you can manage: The enrollment deposit. For the Chancellor’s Scholar award this is the whole ballgame.
- April 15: FAFSA priority date for Tennessee state aid.
Parent rule of thumb: admission here is rolling and forgiving. The money is not. Treat November 1 as the real date and the deposit as the tiebreaker.
Automatic Merit Scholarships — UT Southern
UT Southern publishes a straightforward grid: a GPA number paired with a test score, and a dollar figure attached to each pair. Clear a line and the award is yours. There is no separate scholarship application, no essay, and no committee. Every tier renews for up to eight semesters of full-time enrollment as long as academic standards hold.
Full TuitionAutomatic
Chancellor's Scholar
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews (4 yrs)
Full Tuition
merit
✘ Not stackable
🏫 3.7+ GPA✎ ~30 ACT✎ ~1370 SAT👥 ~One full-tuition award per academic program. Eligible students are considered in order of enrollment, and the award is confirmed when the non-refundable enrollment deposit is received. winners/yr
✚
Stacking & Combining
Institutional aid at UT Southern is last dollar, meaning it fills in after other public aid like Pell and HOPE has been applied.
💡
Strategic Detail
This is UT Southern's top academic award and it covers full tuition. You do not apply for it separately — if your GPA and test scores clear the bar when you are admitted, you are automatically in the running. The catch is that each academic program only gives out one of these, and students are considered in the order they enroll, so the award is not yours until your enrollment deposit is in. It renews for up to four years of full-time enrollment. The school does not publish a dollar figure for it, just tuition, which runs somewhere around eleven thousand dollars a year.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Strong students who move fast. A 3.7 with a 30 ACT is a real bar at a school this size, but the tighter filter is timing. With one award per academic program, a qualified student who deposits in April beats a stronger student who waits until July. If your student is at or above the cutoff, treat the deposit date as the actual competition — not the grades.
Automatic⚠ Transfer Only
Victoria Martin Transfer Scholarship
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews (4 yrs)
🏫 3.5+ GPA🎓 Transfer
✚
Stacking & Combining
Institutional aid at UT Southern is last dollar, meaning it fills in after other public aid like Pell and HOPE has been applied.
💡
Strategic Detail
Four thousand dollars for transfer students coming in with a 3.5 GPA and at least 24 credit hours. It is automatic — no separate application, just apply as a transfer and send your transcripts. The financial aid page lists this as a flat four thousand rather than an annual figure, but the same page says all merit scholarships renew for up to four years of full-time enrollment, so we are reading it as a yearly award. Worth a phone call to financial aid to confirm before you count on year two.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Community college students who kept their grades up. If your student is finishing an associate degree with a 3.5, this is money they get simply for showing up with the transcript — no essay, no committee. The 24-hour minimum means a single semester elsewhere will not qualify; you need roughly a full year of college work.
Automatic
Provost's Scholar
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews (4 yrs)
🏫 3.5+ GPA✎ ~27 ACT✎ ~1280 SAT
✚
Stacking & Combining
Institutional aid at UT Southern is last dollar, meaning it fills in after other public aid like Pell and HOPE has been applied.
💡
Strategic Detail
Six thousand dollars a year, awarded automatically when you are admitted with the right numbers. No essay, no interview, no extra form. It renews for up to four years of full-time enrollment. At UT Southern's tuition level this covers a little over half of tuition and fees on its own.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
This is the sweet spot award for a solid but not spectacular student. A 27 ACT sits well above UT Southern's typical admit, so if your student is testing in the high twenties, this money is close to a sure thing rather than a long shot. The GPA requirement of 3.5 is the easier half — the test score is what most families will be chasing.
Automatic⚠ Transfer Only
Thomas Martin Transfer Scholarship
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews (4 yrs)
🏫 3.0+ GPA🎓 Transfer
✚
Stacking & Combining
Institutional aid at UT Southern is last dollar, meaning it fills in after other public aid like Pell and HOPE has been applied.
💡
Strategic Detail
Three thousand dollars for transfer students with a 3.0 GPA and at least 24 credit hours. Automatic with your transfer admission. As with the Victoria Martin award, the page states a flat three thousand but also says all merit scholarships renew for up to four years of full-time enrollment, so we are treating it as annual. Confirm with financial aid if the renewal matters to your budget.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Most winners: The default transfer award. If your student is coming from a community college with a B average and a year of credits behind them, this is what they get. The step up to the Victoria Martin award is only half a GPA point and worth another thousand a year, so it is worth pushing grades in that last semester before transferring.
Automatic
Dean's Scholar
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews (4 yrs)
🏫 3.3+ GPA✎ ~22 ACT✎ ~1110 SAT
✚
Stacking & Combining
Institutional aid at UT Southern is last dollar, meaning it fills in after other public aid like Pell and HOPE has been applied.
💡
Strategic Detail
Three thousand dollars a year for a student with a 3.25 GPA and a 22 ACT. This is the tier most admitted students will actually land in. It is automatic with admission and renews for up to four years of full-time enrollment.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Most winners: A very ordinary strong-B student. A 22 ACT is roughly the national average, so this is the realistic baseline award for a kid who did fine in high school without being a standout. If you are budgeting for UT Southern and your student is anywhere near these numbers, plan on this three thousand and treat anything above it as a bonus.
Automatic
Firehawk Scholar
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews (4 yrs)
🏫 3.0+ GPA✎ ~19 ACT✎ ~1000 SAT
✚
Stacking & Combining
Institutional aid at UT Southern is last dollar, meaning it fills in after other public aid like Pell and HOPE has been applied.
💡
Strategic Detail
Fifteen hundred dollars a year for a student with a 3.0 GPA and a 19 ACT. Automatic with admission, renews for up to four years of full-time enrollment.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Students who clear admission comfortably but are not test-strong. The gap between this tier and the Dean's tier is only three ACT points and a quarter of a GPA point, but it is worth fifteen hundred dollars a year — six thousand over four years. If your student is sitting at a 19 or 20, one more test sitting is the highest-paying afternoon of their senior year.
Automatic
Rising Scholar
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews (4 yrs)
🏫 3.0+ GPA✎ ~18 ACT✎ ~960 SAT
✚
Stacking & Combining
Institutional aid at UT Southern is last dollar, meaning it fills in after other public aid like Pell and HOPE has been applied.
💡
Strategic Detail
One thousand dollars a year, the entry tier of UT Southern's automatic merit ladder. A 3.0 GPA and an 18 ACT gets you here. No application, renews for up to four years of full-time enrollment.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Almost anyone who gets admitted with a 3.0. This is the floor award — if your student meets UT Southern's admission standards on the GPA side and tests at all, they land here at minimum. Worth knowing that one more ACT point moves them to the Firehawk tier and another five hundred dollars a year.
Automatic⚠ All Undergrad Only
No Out of State Tuition
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews
🎓 All Undergrad
✚
Stacking & Combining
This is a tuition rate, not an award, so it sits underneath everything else. Merit scholarships and federal aid apply on top of the in-state price.
💡
Strategic Detail
UT Southern does not charge out-of-state tuition at all. Whether you live in Tennessee, Alabama, California or Illinois, you pay the same price — roughly eleven thousand two hundred dollars a year for tuition and fees. This is not a scholarship you win, it is just how the school prices itself, and it is easily the biggest money item for an out-of-state family. Note that the school's own pages list the tuition figure slightly differently in a couple of places, so confirm the exact number for your entering year.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Every single out-of-state student. This is the reason UT Southern is worth a look for families outside Tennessee — at most public universities the nonresident premium runs ten to twenty thousand dollars a year, and here it is zero. Stack a merit award on top and an out-of-state kid can end up paying less than they would at their own state flagship.
* GPA/test bands are estimates based on official selectivity and prior cohort profiles. "Who Actually Wins" insights are pulled from external peer-sourced data where students and parents have reported real-world award results. Because colleges can change funding thresholds and deadlines at any time, always verify these details with the institution before finalizing your application strategy.
💡 The Cheapest Money Your Student Will Ever Earn
Look at the gaps between tiers. Going from an 18 to a 19 on the ACT is worth $500 a year. Going from a 19 to a 22, paired with a quarter point of GPA, is worth $1,500 a year, which is $6,000 across four years. Going from a 22 to a 27 is worth another $3,000 a year. One more Saturday morning at a testing center is, in dollar terms, the highest-paying few hours of your student’s senior year. That is a very different calculation than at a test-optional school where the score is optional for money too.
Note: Students receive the single highest automatic award they qualify for. These tiers do not stack with each other. They do sit alongside federal and state aid, but remember the last-dollar rule described below.
Automatic Merit — FAQs (UT Southern)
Do I have to apply for these scholarships?
No. Apply for admission and send your ACT or SAT scores. If your numbers clear a line, the award is attached to your admission offer. There is no separate form.
Is UT Southern test-optional?
No. An ACT or SAT score is required for admission, and it is required for merit. This is worth pausing on, because it also means the published score range of 18 to 24 on the ACT reflects essentially every enrolled student rather than a self-selected group who chose to submit.
Does UT Southern superscore?
The university does not publish a superscore policy in either direction. Plan on your best single test date counting, and if the difference between two sittings would move your student a tier, call admissions at 931-363-9804 and ask directly before you stop testing.
Which tier will most admitted students land in?
Dean’s Scholar, at $3,000 a year. A 3.25 GPA with a 22 ACT is a very ordinary strong-B profile, and a 22 is roughly the national average. If you are building a budget and your student is anywhere near those numbers, plan on $3,000 and treat anything above it as upside.
Is the Chancellor’s Scholar award guaranteed if we hit 3.7 and a 30?
No, and this is the one place the grid breaks down. Each academic program gives out one full-tuition Chancellor’s award, and students are considered in order of enrollment, with the award confirmed when the non-refundable deposit is received. Hitting the numbers puts you in the running. Depositing early is what actually wins it. If that award is central to your budget, call admissions and ask whether the slot in your student’s intended major is still open before you assume anything.
What about transfer students?
Two automatic awards, both requiring at least 24 completed credit hours: $4,000 at a 3.5 GPA and $3,000 at a 3.0. No test score required, no application. A single semester elsewhere will not qualify, so you need roughly a full year of college work. Note that UT Southern lists these as flat dollar figures while also stating that all merit scholarships renew for up to four years. We read them as annual, but confirm with financial aid at 931-363-9821 before you count on year two.
What does “institutional aid is last dollar” actually mean for my bill?
It means UT Southern’s own scholarships fill in after federal and state money like Pell and HOPE, rather than stacking on top of it. A family with significant Pell eligibility may find that a larger institutional award does not increase their total package by the full amount, because some of it is backfilling aid they were already getting. It is not a trick, but it is the reason two families with identical merit awards can have very different bills.
What GPA do we need to keep these?
UT Southern states that all merit scholarships renew for up to eight semesters of full-time enrollment provided academic standards for renewal are maintained, without publishing a specific renewal GPA per tier. Ask financial aid for the number in writing when the award letter arrives, and make sure your student knows it before their first semester ends.
Sources:
https://utsouthern.edu/cost-and-aid/financial-aid/
https://utsouthern.edu/cost-and-aid/no-out-of-state-tuition/
🏆 Flagship Scholarships (Competitive Scholarships)
Here is the honest answer, and it is a short one: UT Southern does not run a competitive scholarship program. There is no essay contest, no interview weekend, no finalist event, no nomination process, and no named flagship award decided by a committee. Every institutional dollar on this campus comes from one of two places: the published automatic merit grid, or the endowed and alumni awards covered in Hidden Gems.
For a lot of families, that is a genuine relief. The competitive scholarship circuit at bigger universities eats an enormous amount of a senior’s fall: supplemental essays, recommendation letters, interview prep, a travel weekend, and then a long wait for an answer that is usually no. At UT Southern you can look at a chart in October and know within a few hundred dollars what your student will be offered. That is a real planning advantage, especially for a family weighing several schools at once.
The one award that behaves a little like a competitive scholarship is the Chancellor’s Scholar, which covers full tuition. It lives in the automatic category because there is no application, but it carries a quota of one per academic program and is awarded in order of enrollment. So it is not competitive in the essay-and-interview sense. It is competitive in the sense of a first-come line. If your student is at or above a 3.7 GPA and a 30 ACT, the deposit date is the competition.
✅ Can You Stack Scholarships at UT Southern?
| Aid Type |
Stacks with Merit? |
Parent Translation |
| Automatic merit tiers |
No, one award only |
Your student receives the single highest tier they qualify for. Rising and Firehawk do not add together. |
| Pell Grant and TN HOPE |
Applied first |
This is the last-dollar rule. Federal and state money lands before UT Southern’s own scholarships, which then fill whatever gap remains. File the FAFSA by April 15. |
| UT Promise |
Last in line |
Covers whatever tuition and mandatory fees are left after everything else. The bigger your other aid, the smaller the UT Promise check, and that is by design. |
| Endowed and alumni awards |
Generally yes |
These are the gap fillers. One endowed application puts your student in front of all five funds at once. |
| Fee discounts (educator, state employee, UT employee) |
Yes |
These reduce the bill directly rather than being awarded as aid, so they sit alongside everything above. Requires a fresh form every semester. |
| Outside and private scholarships |
Usually, with limits |
Total aid cannot exceed cost of attendance. Report outside awards to financial aid so they can tell you what adjusts. |
This institution does not offer designated Competitive scholarships at this time.
❓ Flagship / Competitive Scholarship FAQs
Is there really no competitive scholarship at UT Southern?
Correct. UT Southern publishes no committee-judged, application-based institutional scholarship. The closest thing is the Chancellor’s Scholar full-tuition award, which requires no application but is limited to one per academic program and awarded in enrollment order.
So what should we spend our essay energy on instead?
Outside scholarships and the endowed application. The essays your student would have written for a flagship competition are still worth writing, just aimed elsewhere. Our Essay Toolkit and Brag Sheet Builder work just as well for community and national awards.
Is UT Southern a National Merit or Stamps partner?
No to both. There is no published National Merit Finalist package and UT Southern is not a Stamps Scholarship partner institution.
Does UT Southern partner with QuestBridge?
No.
Are there athletic scholarships?
Yes. UT Southern competes in the NAIA as a member of the Southern States Athletic Conference, and athletic aid is handled entirely through coaches rather than the financial aid office. Worth knowing: the university advertises an average merit package around $20,000, a figure that almost certainly bundles athletic and need-based money. The academic grid on this page tops out at full tuition, which is roughly $11,264. If a recruiter quotes you a number well above the academic tiers, ask specifically what portion is athletic and what happens to it if your student stops playing.
Can we appeal or negotiate an award?
Merit tiers are formula-driven, so there is little to negotiate on that side. Need-based aid is a different conversation, and financial aid offices do reconsider packages when family circumstances change. Call 931-363-9821 and ask about a professional judgment review.
Sources:
https://utsouthern.edu/cost-and-aid/financial-aid/
https://alumni.utsouthern.edu/scholarships/
🧠 Parent Strategy: One Form, Five Funds
UT Southern’s endowed scholarships are not applied for individually. There is a single Endowed Scholarships Application linked from the financial aid page, and submitting it puts your student in front of every endowed fund at once. That is the whole trick.
- Complete the Endowed Scholarships Application. Fifteen minutes, five funds.
- Call financial aid at 931-363-9821 and ask when the review window opens, because no deadline is posted anywhere.
- Check whether a parent works for a Tennessee public school, the State of Tennessee, or the UT System. That is a fee discount, not a scholarship, and almost nobody claims it.
- Ask whether anyone in the family holds a degree from any UT campus. That opens the UTAA Legacy award.
Parent translation: at a school with about a thousand students, the applicant pool for a fund preferring Wayne County residents or arts majors is measured in a handful of people. These are the best odds on this entire page, and they go unclaimed because the form is hard to find.
💎 Hidden Gem Scholarships
None of these are automatic. Every one requires a form, a phone call, or both. They also carry the best ratio of effort to dollars anywhere at UT Southern, and unlike the merit tiers, most of them layer on top of what your student already has.
App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
Rogers Family UT Promise Scholarship Endowment
📅 Deadline: Varies
Non-Renewable
🎓 All Undergrad
📄
How to Apply
Complete the Endowed Scholarships Application linked from UT Southern's financial aid page. Call financial aid at 931-363-9821 to ask when the review window opens.
💡
Strategic Detail
An endowed fund aimed at nursing students at UT Southern who also fit the UT Promise profile. No amount is published. You apply through the single Endowed Scholarships Application on the financial aid page, not to this fund directly, and no deadline is posted.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Tennessee nursing students from families under the UT Promise income line. This is the narrowest of the endowed funds listed, which cuts both ways — fewer students fit it, but the ones who do face almost no competition. If your student is headed into the Travis School of Nursing and qualifies for HOPE, put this application at the top of the pile.
App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
Dan and Brenda Speer UT Promise Scholarship Endowment
📅 Deadline: Varies
Non-Renewable
🎓 All Undergrad
📄
How to Apply
Complete the Endowed Scholarships Application linked from UT Southern's financial aid page. One application is used for the endowed awards. Call financial aid at 931-363-9821 to ask when the review window opens.
💡
Strategic Detail
A donor-funded endowed scholarship held by UT Southern. The award amount is not published anywhere, which is normal for endowed funds — the payout depends on what the endowment earned that year. You apply through the single Endowed Scholarships Application on the financial aid page rather than applying to this fund directly. No deadline is posted, so call the financial aid office and ask.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Tennessee students who already look like UT Promise candidates — modest household income, HOPE-eligible, from the region. Because there is no published amount or deadline, most families never fill out the endowed application at all, which is exactly why the odds here are better than the name suggests. Fifteen minutes on a form is the whole cost of entry.
App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
UT Employee Spouse and Dependent Fee Discount
📅 Deadline: A new form is required every semester. Submit it by the fee payment deadline if you need the discount applied before classes are dropped for nonpayment. The outside limit is the last day of classes for the term.
✓ Renews
🎓 All Undergrad
✚
Stacking & Combining
This is a fee discount rather than a scholarship, so it reduces the bill directly and sits alongside merit awards and federal aid.
📄
How to Apply
Get the fee discount form from your UT human resources office, complete it with all required signatures, and submit it to the UT Southern Bursar Office by email, fax, mail, or in person on the first floor of Colonial Hall. Repeat every semester.
💡
Strategic Detail
If a parent works full time for the University of Tennessee system, their undergraduate spouse and dependent children up to age 26 get up to 50 percent off the in-state maintenance fee. UT Southern is explicitly covered, right alongside Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin, and the Health Science Center. Some part-time UT employees qualify on a prorated basis if they work at least half time and have a year of service. This is a benefit, not a competition, so there is no committee and no essay. The catch is the same one that trips people up on the educator discount: a fresh form every semester, no automatic renewal.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Most winners: Families that already have a UT paycheck coming in and never thought to connect it to their own child going to college. Half off tuition is worth more than every automatic merit tier below Provost, and it stacks with them. Nobody at the university will call to tell you this exists.
Full TuitionApp Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
UT Promise
📅 Deadline: December 15 for high school seniors. The application window opens August 1. The separate TN Promise application must be completed by November 1.
✓ Renews
Full Tuition
last dollar tuition guarantee
✔ Stackable
🏫 3.0+ GPA✎ ~21 ACT✎ ~1060 SAT🎓 All Undergrad
✚
Stacking & Combining
This is last dollar money. It covers whatever tuition and mandatory fees are left after Pell, HOPE and institutional scholarships have been applied, so the more other aid you receive the smaller the UT Promise check. Any excess can go toward books and other expenses.
📄
How to Apply
Complete the TN Promise application by November 1 of your senior year — this is a prerequisite. Apply for admission to UT Southern and complete the UT Promise application by December 15. File the FAFSA, satisfy the mandatory TN Promise meeting, complete 16 hours of community service by August 1, and enroll full time.
💡
Strategic Detail
UT Promise is the University of Tennessee System's tuition guarantee, and for a lot of Tennessee families it makes UT Southern free. It covers tuition and mandatory fees only — not housing, meals, or books — and it pays last, filling whatever gap is left after Pell, HOPE and your merit scholarships. It is run by the UT System through tnAchieves rather than by UT Southern, so the deadlines are theirs and they are unforgiving. The chain matters: TN Promise application by November 1, then UT Promise by December 15, then FAFSA, then a mentor meeting, then 16 hours of community service before classes start. Miss one link and the whole thing falls apart.
🕵
Who Actually Wins
Tennessee families under about seventy-five thousand dollars in income whose student clears the HOPE bar and who follow the paperwork chain exactly. The academic bar is genuinely low — a 3.0 or a 21 ACT. The real attrition is administrative. Every year students lose this because they skipped the November 1 TN Promise application, never did the community service hours, or did not finish financial aid verification. Put all five dates on the refrigerator in August of senior year.
App Required
UTAA Legacy Scholarship
📅 Deadline: Varies
✓ Renews (3 GPA)
🏫 3.0+ GPA👥 ~The UT Alumni Association allocates $2,000 per UT campus to fund one legacy scholarship. winners/yr
📄
How to Apply
Contact the UT Southern Office of Financial Aid at 931-363-9821 or the UT Southern Alumni office at 931-363-9824 — the alumni page does not publish an application link or deadline for this award.
💡
Strategic Detail
A two thousand dollar award from the UT Alumni Association for first-year students whose parent or grandparent graduated from a UT campus — any campus, not just UT Southern. It is open to out-of-state students as well as Tennessee residents. Two things to know. The alumni page describes the two thousand dollars as the amount allocated per campus to fund one award, so read it as one scholarship of that size rather than a pool. And no deadline or application link is published anywhere on UT Southern's site, so you have to call and ask.
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Who Actually Wins
One student per campus, so the odds here are genuinely thin — but the eligible pool at a school of about a thousand students is thin too. The ACT requirement is the sneaky one: it floats to match whatever UT Southern's average was last year, so it is a moving target rather than a fixed number. If there is a UT diploma in the family and your student has a 3.0, it costs one phone call to find out where to apply.
App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
Randy Martin Memorial Arts Scholarship
📅 Deadline: Varies
Non-Renewable
🎓 All Undergrad
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How to Apply
Complete the Endowed Scholarships Application linked from UT Southern's financial aid page. Call financial aid at 931-363-9821 to ask when the review window opens.
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Strategic Detail
An endowed memorial scholarship for students in the arts at UT Southern. No dollar amount is published — endowed awards pay out based on what the fund earned. Apply through the single Endowed Scholarships Application on the financial aid page. There is no posted deadline, so ask the financial aid office directly.
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Who Actually Wins
Students who declare an arts major or minor and actually turn in the endowed application. The applicant pool at a school with roughly a thousand students is small, and the pool of arts students who bothered to apply is smaller still. If your student is going into music, theater, or visual arts here, this is close to free money for filling out a form.
App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
Children of Educators and State Employees Fee Discount
📅 Deadline: Last day of classes for the term. Forms cannot be submitted before the term opens — July 1 for fall, October 1 for spring, March 1 for summer. Submit by the fee payment deadline if you need it applied to secure your classes.
✓ Renews
🎓 All Undergrad
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How to Apply
Download the Public Higher Education fee discount form from UT Southern's discounts and waivers page, get every required signature, and submit it to the Bursar's Office by email, fax, mail, or in person on the first floor of Colonial Hall. A brand new form is required every single semester.
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Strategic Detail
If a parent teaches in a Tennessee public school or works for the State of Tennessee, their child gets 25 percent off the maintenance fee. It is a state program, but you file it through UT Southern's Bursar's Office. Two things trip families up. First, you have to file a fresh form every semester — it does not roll over. Second, the form cannot be signed or submitted before the term opens, and all signatures have to be dated on or after that opening date, so an eager August signature on a fall form gets rejected.
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Who Actually Wins
Most winners: Any family with a parent on a Tennessee public school or state payroll and a kid under 24. There is no competition and no selection committee — it is an entitlement, you either qualify or you do not. The only people who miss out are the ones who never heard about it, and that is a lot of people. If this is you, the twenty minutes of paperwork each semester is the best hourly rate in college finance.
App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
Doss Brothers Construction UT Promise Scholarship Endowment
📅 Deadline: Varies
Non-Renewable
🎓 All Undergrad
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How to Apply
Complete the Endowed Scholarships Application linked from UT Southern's financial aid page. Call financial aid at 931-363-9821 to ask when the review window opens.
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Strategic Detail
A business-funded endowed scholarship at UT Southern with a preference for students who fit the UT Promise profile. No amount is published. Apply through the single Endowed Scholarships Application on the financial aid page. No deadline is posted.
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Who Actually Wins
Same profile as the other UT Promise endowments — Tennessee students from lower and middle income households who qualify for HOPE. Since three of the five endowed funds here share that preference, one endowed application puts your student in front of all of them at once. That is the real reason to bother with the form.
App Required⚠ Upperclassmen Only
Joe and Pat Johnson Student Alumni Scholarship
📅 Deadline: Varies
Non-Renewable
⚠ Requires active membership in a campus student alumni organization; the qualifying UT Southern organization is not named on the alumni page.
🏫 3.0+ GPA👥 ~One student per undergraduate campus. Not awarded in years when no student qualifies. winners/yr🎓 Upperclassmen
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How to Apply
Ask your student alumni association staff representative how to apply, or contact the UT Southern Alumni office at 931-363-9824 to confirm which campus organization qualifies.
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Strategic Detail
A $2,500 award for one student per undergraduate UT campus who has served their campus student alumni organization. Requires a 3.0 GPA, full-time enrollment, and full-time academic standing the prior year, so it is not available to entering freshmen. One important caveat: the alumni page names the qualifying organizations at Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Martin only, and does not say what the UT Southern equivalent is. Confirm with the alumni office before counting on it. If no student qualifies in a given year, the award is simply not made.
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Who Actually Wins
A junior or senior who joined the campus alumni organization early and stuck with it. This is a service award more than an academic one, and the 3.0 bar is the easy part. The pool is one student, but at a campus of about a thousand the number of students who are active in an alumni organization at all is very small.
App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
Andrew D. Holt Scholarship
📅 Deadline: Varies
Non-Renewable
🎓 All Undergrad
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How to Apply
Call the UT Southern Office of Financial Aid at 931-363-9821 or the UT Southern Alumni office at 931-363-9824 and ask how UTAA scholarship nominations work for this campus. No application link or deadline is published.
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Strategic Detail
The UT Alumni Association calls this its most prestigious award, given for academic merit and demonstrated leadership. It is named for Andy Holt, who ran the university for twenty years and built its scholarship program. UT Southern lists it on the alumni scholarships page, but publishes no dollar amount, no deadline, and no application link, which is true of every UTAA award on that page. The alumni association funds more than 150 scholarships a year across the UT System, so the pool is real even if the front door is hard to find.
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Who Actually Wins
Students with a leadership record, not just a transcript. Because no application path is published on the UT Southern side, the students who get considered are usually the ones whose counselor or financial aid officer put their name forward. A phone call is the entire cost of finding out.
App Required⚠ All Undergrad Only
Robert Pulley Scholarship Endowment
📅 Deadline: Varies
Non-Renewable
🎓 All Undergrad
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How to Apply
Complete the Endowed Scholarships Application linked from UT Southern's financial aid page. Call financial aid at 931-363-9821 to ask when the review window opens.
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Strategic Detail
An endowed scholarship with a preference for students from Wayne County, Tennessee. No amount is published. Apply through the single Endowed Scholarships Application on the financial aid page. No deadline is posted, so call financial aid to ask.
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Who Actually Wins
Kids from Wayne County, plainly. County-preference funds like this one are the most overlooked money in college aid because the eligible pool is a few dozen high school seniors and often only a handful apply. If you are from Waynesboro or Collinwood, this is the single best-odds award on this entire list.
* GPA/test bands are estimates based on official selectivity and prior cohort profiles. "Who Actually Wins" insights are pulled from external peer-sourced data where students and parents have reported real-world award results. Because colleges can change funding thresholds and deadlines at any time, always verify these details with the institution before finalizing your application strategy.
The Two Discounts Nobody Claims
- Children of Educators and State Employees: 25 percent off the maintenance fee if a parent teaches in a Tennessee public school or works for the state. No competition, no committee. You either qualify or you do not.
- UT Employee Spouse and Dependents: up to 50 percent off the in-state maintenance fee for the spouse and dependent children under 26 of a full-time UT system employee. UT Southern is explicitly covered.
Both require a brand new form every single semester, and neither can be signed or submitted before the term opens. July 1 for fall, October 1 for spring, March 1 for summer. An eager August signature on a fall form gets rejected on a technicality, which is the single most common way families lose this money.
❓ Hidden Gems FAQ
Where is the endowed scholarship application?
It is linked from UT Southern’s financial aid page rather than sitting on the alumni page where the funds are described. That split is exactly why families miss it. If you cannot find it, call 931-363-9821 and ask them to send the link directly.
Why is no dollar amount listed for the endowed funds?
That is normal for endowed scholarships. The payout depends on what the fund earned that year, so the university cannot publish a fixed figure. It does not mean the award is small, and it does not mean the fund is inactive.
What is the deadline for the endowed awards?
None is published. This is genuinely frustrating and it is also an opportunity, because a scholarship with no posted deadline is a scholarship most people never apply for. Call financial aid and ask when the review window opens, then submit early.
My student is going into nursing. Does that help?
Yes. The Rogers Family UT Promise Scholarship Endowment specifically prefers nursing students who also fit the UT Promise profile. That is a narrow enough filter that the eligible pool at a school this size is very small. If your student is headed into the Travis School of Nursing and qualifies for HOPE, put that application at the top of the pile.
We live in Wayne County. Is that actually worth something?
It is the best-odds award on this page. The Robert Pulley Scholarship Endowment prefers students from Wayne County, Tennessee. County-preference funds are the most overlooked money in college aid, because the eligible pool is a few dozen high school seniors and often only a handful apply.
What exactly does UT Promise cover?
Tuition and mandatory fees only. Not housing, not meals, not books. It is last-dollar, so it fills whatever gap remains after Pell, HOPE, and your institutional scholarships have been applied, with a guaranteed minimum of $500 per semester for qualifying students. Eligibility requires HOPE qualification, adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less, and total assets under $75,000.
What is the most common way families lose UT Promise?
Paperwork, not grades. The academic bar is low: a 3.0 GPA or a 21 ACT. The chain is what breaks. TN Promise application by November 1, then UT Promise by December 15, then the FAFSA, then a mandatory mentor meeting, then 16 hours of community service before classes start. Miss one link and the whole thing falls apart. Put all five dates on the refrigerator in August of senior year.
Do we have to be UT Southern alumni for the Legacy award?
No, and this catches people. The UTAA Legacy Scholarship is open to the child, stepchild, grandchild, or step-grandchild of a graduate from any UT campus, and it is available to out-of-state students. It requires a 3.0 high school GPA and an ACT at least matching UT Southern’s average from the previous year, which makes it a moving target rather than a fixed number. No application link is published, so you have to call and ask.
Can current students apply for these?
Yes. The endowed funds and the fee discounts are open to continuing undergraduates, not just incoming freshmen. If your student is already enrolled and has never filled out the endowed application, this year is a fine time to start.
Sources:
https://alumni.utsouthern.edu/scholarships/
https://utsouthern.edu/cost-and-aid/financial-aid/discounts-and-waivers/
https://tennessee.edu/academics/affordability/ut-promise-scholarship/
Honors at UT Southern: The W. Garie Taylor Honors Program
First, a clarification that saves confusion later. UT Southern has an Honors Program, not an Honors College. The difference is not just naming. An honors college at a large university usually comes with its own dorm, its own advising staff, priority registration, and in many cases its own scholarship pool. The W. Garie Taylor Honors Program is a curricular and community program layered on top of a campus that is already small. There is no separate honors scholarship attached to it.
That last sentence is the one to underline for budgeting. Getting into honors at UT Southern does not bring money with it. Your student’s scholarship comes from the automatic merit grid, and it comes whether or not they join honors. Honors is an academic experience, not a financial one.
- Entry from high school: ACT 25 and a minimum 3.5 GPA.
- Entry after you arrive: students who do not meet those numbers can join with a cumulative 3.0 after a semester of at least 15 hours at UT Southern.
- Transfer entry: graduate from a two-year college honors program, or complete honors coursework elsewhere and have your transcript evaluated on enrollment.
- Requirement to complete: a minimum of 15 hours of honors coursework, met through core courses, upper-level honors classes, or a course contract arranged with an instructor.
This institution does not offer designated Honors College scholarships at this time.
What Honors Actually Gets You Here
- The Big Picture Series: a forum where faculty and students present research and work they care about. At a school of a thousand, an undergraduate presenting is not unusual.
- The Lecture Series: outside scholars brought to campus across disciplines.
- Small-class contact: UT Southern already runs a 14 to 1 student-faculty ratio with most classes under 20 students. Honors sections push that further.
- The course contract: the ability to turn a regular class into an honors credit by arrangement with the professor. This is a real perk at a small school, because the professor actually knows your student.
- A transcript line: completion of the program is a credential that reads well for graduate school and competitive employers.
Worth Noticing: the honors entry bar is a 25 ACT, which sits between the Dean’s Scholar tier at 22 and the Provost’s Scholar tier at 27. A student who qualifies for honors is already earning at least $3,000 a year automatically and is within striking distance of $6,000. If your student is testing at 25 or 26, another sitting is worth real money even though it will not change their honors eligibility.
Honors — FAQs (UT Southern)
Is honors admission automatic?
No. There is a separate application, downloadable from the honors program page. Meeting the numbers makes your student eligible, not enrolled.
Is there an honors scholarship?
Not a separate one. UT Southern publishes no honors-specific award. Your student’s money comes from the automatic merit grid regardless of honors status. If a school’s honors pitch is what is driving your comparison, this is an important difference from campuses like UT Knoxville.
My student has a 3.4 and a 24. Are they shut out?
No, and this is one of the nicer things about the program. Enroll, take at least 15 hours in the first semester, finish with a 3.0 cumulative, and they can join. Very few honors programs offer that second door.
Can transfer students join?
Yes, through three paths: graduating from a two-year college honors program, completing honors coursework at another institution, or having a transcript evaluated on enrollment. Combine that with the Victoria Martin transfer award at $4,000 and a transfer student with a 3.5 has a fairly strong package.
Are honors courses harder?
They are structured around depth and discussion rather than extra volume. The point is smaller rooms and more conversation, not more pages.
Does honors help with graduate school or nursing school admission?
It helps at the margin, particularly the research presentation experience through the Big Picture Series. For nursing and pre-health specifically, clinical hours and prerequisite grades still carry more weight.
Sources:
https://utsouthern.edu/academics/honors-program/
https://utsouthern.edu/academics/
⭐ College Specialty
UT Southern is a small rural campus in Pulaski, about 70 miles south of Nashville and roughly 45 miles north of Huntsville, Alabama. It enrolls a little over a thousand students, runs a 14 to 1 student-faculty ratio, and keeps most classes under 20 people. It was Martin Methodist College for 150 years before joining the University of Tennessee System in 2021, and it remains the first new primary campus the UT System has added in over half a century.
What that history means practically: you get a small-college experience with a University of Tennessee diploma and UT System pricing behind it. The academic catalog is organized into six schools, and the strongest pipelines are the professional ones.
Nationally Relevant Program:
Jeanette M. Travis School of Nursing and Health Sciences — the BSN is the flagship undergraduate degree here and the clearest career pipeline on campus. A small cohort means clinical placements are individually arranged rather than assigned from a spreadsheet, and rural Middle Tennessee has a persistent nursing shortage that graduates step directly into. The school also offers a BS in Public Health Education for students drawn to community health rather than bedside work.
- School of Social Sciences: the deepest bench on campus. A BS in Criminal Justice, a BS in Homeland Security, behavioral sciences, history, and a Master of Science in Criminal Justice. That undergraduate-to-graduate pathway in one place is unusual at this size, and it matters if your student is aiming at federal or state law enforcement.
- School of Mathematics and Sciences: home to the BS in Cybersecurity and the BS in Computer Information Systems, alongside biology and chemistry. Cybersecurity is the standout for job placement, and Huntsville’s defense and aerospace corridor is a 45-minute drive.
- Johnston School of Business: BBA degrees in Accounting, Management, and Management Information Systems, plus a BS in Sport Management and an MBA. The MIS degree bridges business and the cybersecurity side of campus.
- Grace G. Grissom School of Education: elementary education, special education, kinesiology, and secondary licensure. Tennessee schools recruit directly from programs like this one.
- Victoria and Thomas Martin School of Arts and Humanities: fine arts with concentrations in art, music, and dramatic arts, plus English, religion and philosophy, and interdisciplinary studies. If your student lands here, the Randy Martin Memorial Arts Scholarship is worth chasing specifically because the applicant pool is tiny.
- Firehawk Athletics: NAIA competition in the Southern States Athletic Conference. Athletic aid is real and coach-controlled, which is a different world from the published academic grid.
What UT Southern Does Not Offer
Being straight with you saves a wasted campus visit. There is no engineering program and no standalone computer science degree. The technical path runs through cybersecurity and computer information systems instead. There is no law school, no medical school, and no doctoral research infrastructure. If your student is set on engineering or pure CS, UT Knoxville or Tennessee Tech is the conversation, and the out-of-state math there looks very different.
🔗 Official UT Southern Links
Every link below was checked against the live UT Southern site. Use these to confirm deadlines, award terms, and cost figures before you make a decision. When our page and a university page disagree, the university page wins.
Financial Aid: 931-363-9821 • Admissions: 931-363-9804 • Alumni Office: 931-363-9824
✅ Wrapping It Up
UT Southern is one of the few schools we cover where you can build an accurate budget in about ten minutes. There is no out-of-state tuition, so the price is the same whether you live in Pulaski or Portland. There is a published merit grid, so you can look at your student’s GPA and ACT and know the number. And there is no competitive scholarship program at all, which means no essays, no interviews, and no waiting until March to find out what college costs.
Two things separate the families who do well here from the ones who leave money behind. The first is understanding the last-dollar rule, because it explains why a bigger scholarship does not always mean a smaller bill. The second is doing the small, unglamorous paperwork: the endowed scholarship application that covers five funds at once, the fee discount form if a parent works for a Tennessee school or the state, and the phone call about the UTAA Legacy award if there is a UT diploma anywhere in the family. That paperwork is where the real hidden money is, and it goes unclaimed because nobody advertises it.
If your student is heading toward nursing, criminal justice, cybersecurity, education, or business, and a small campus where professors know their name sounds like the right fit, this is a genuinely affordable path to a University of Tennessee degree. If they want engineering, computer science, or a big-campus experience, look elsewhere first and come back to compare the numbers. Either way, apply early and deposit early. At UT Southern, the calendar is worth more than the essay.
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