DegreeMappercommunity colleges, mapped

Community-college transfer rates in Tennessee

Community colleges in Tennessee ranked by reported transfer rate — the share of full-time first-time entrants who continued at another institution within 150% of program length. For students using community college as a stepping stone toward a bachelor's degree, this is the single most predictive comparison metric.

  1. Pellissippi State Community CollegeKnoxville, TN22%
  2. Columbia State Community CollegeColumbia, TN17%
  3. Southwest Tennessee Community CollegeMemphis, TN16%
  4. Nashville State Community CollegeNashville, TN15%
  5. Roane State Community CollegeHarriman, TN14%
  6. Motlow State Community CollegeTullahoma, TN14%
  7. Chattanooga State Community CollegeChattanooga, TN14%
  8. Volunteer State Community CollegeGallatin, TN14%
  9. Jackson State Community CollegeJackson, TN13%
  10. Dyersburg State Community CollegeDyersburg, TN12%
  11. Walters State Community CollegeMorristown, TN11%
  12. Northeast State Community CollegeBlountville, TN9%
  13. John A Gupton CollegeNashville, TN8%

How transfer rates are calculated

The transfer rate reported by the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard is the share of full-time first-time degree-seeking students at a two-year institution who transferred to another postsecondary institution within 150% of the normal time to program completion. It does not distinguish between transfers to four-year institutions and transfers to other two-year colleges, and it does not measure whether the receiving institution accepted the credits. Treat the figure as a directional indicator of how often students leave the community college for further postsecondary work, not as a precise measure of bachelor's-degree pipeline strength.

For a complete transfer assessment of any Tennessee community college on this list, ask three follow-up questions of the institution directly: (1) Which four-year institutions does the college maintain articulation agreements with, and on what fields of study? (2) For students who transferred to a public Tennessee four-year university last year, what share of community-college credits were accepted on a course-for-course basis? (3) Does the institution participate in any statewide Tennessee transfer guarantee or reverse-transfer program? Strong answers to all three questions matter more than the headline transfer rate.

If you are intending to transfer outside Tennessee, you should also confirm that the receiving institution will accept the community college's regional accreditation. The accreditor for each college is listed on its full profile.