Colleges in TN

[Only me]

My dd wants to go to school in TN preferably within an hour or two of Nashville. We are hoping to move to the Nashville area within the next year or so but she would probably go next fall. We want to visit a few schools in October so I need to come up with a list now. She would prefer a private school or a smaller university and we are trying to stay under 30K. She will going for a teaching degree.

[Sonshine]

Bryan College,Union

[creekland]

If she is interested in a protestant Christian College, also consider Covenant College. While it's in Georgia, it's literally right over the border from Chattanooga, TN to where we stay in TN when visiting the school. My son is a Freshman there this year and is absolutely loving his experience. Here's a thread I wrote about the school back in June. It can give you more of an idea if it's worth a visit or not.

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189047&highlight=Covenant

 

Since you're just moving to TN, I'm assuming their state scholarships won't apply, but for those it does apply to, Covenant matches those grants (from TN).

 

Otherwise, the only secular school we are sort of considering (for my middle son, not the oldest) is Vanderbilt. I don't believe it's anywhere near the 30K range, but they do provide all need based aid without loans if a student gets accepted. We haven't visited it yet to know if I'd give it a thumbs up or not. On paper they look decent.

[Georgia On My Mind]

I agree with Creekland about Cov College. It is outstanding but a bit pricey. It is also a Presbyterian college and smallish. Many of the students at the PCA Christian school I formerly worked went to there and I grew up at the foot of Lookout Mtn. (Eliz. Taylor supposedly spent one of her honeymoons there.) I spent my childhood looking up at what was then Lookout Mtn Hotel and now it's the college. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is part of the TN university system but smallish. My husband graduated from there with an Engineering Physic Degree many years ago. About an hour out of Chattanooga is Berry College in Rome, GA. It is a smaller university with a fantastic reputation in GA. More of our students from the PCA private school attended there than Cov Col. It is also private and a bit pricey but has many great programs and teaching is one of them. Definitely check it out. The campus is set on a huge farm outside of Rome, GA and on any given day you can see scores of deer grazing all over the campus. North GA and TN are dotted with small excellent universities and colleges. There is also Lee College in Cleveland, TN. I believe they are Church of God sponsored and near there is TN Wesleyan (a Methodist) college. Bryan, as mentioned earlier, also has a great reputation in that area. There is also a small 7th Day Adventist College outside of Chattanooga in Collegdale, TN. Belmont University in Nashville is Baptist sponsored and part of the quad of universities in Nashville that includes Vandy. Just outside of Nashville in Murphresboro, TN is a state university that was formerly Middle TN State Teacher's College, now Middle TN State University. It is smaller than UT and in a small town away from Nashville. Tribecca Nazarene College is also in Nashville but I only know one person who attended there many years ago. Tacoa College/University in the N. GA Mtns. has a great program. One of my former students just graduated from there. She had LD and the classes were small enough that she knew her professors and got the extra help she needed to keep a 4.0 gpa. Just over the Kentucky border is Berea University. My neice just left for there last week. She is getting a teaching degree in order to be a missionary. She was able to get financial aid to help with expenses at the private Baptist (I believe) university. I know they are very conservative because she can't drive or have a car on campus until she is a sophomore.

 

It could take you a long time to check out all of those.

[dkholland]

:iagree::iagree::iagree:....I am all about Covenant these days and highly recommend it! They really care for their students. The faculty and upper-classmen work hard to get to know the freshmen and live life with them. I think that makes the transition to college-life so much easier and enjoyable!

[K-FL]

There are lots of colleges in Nashville (Athens of the South!) Trevecca, Belmont & Lipscomb are Christian colleges in town. Cumberland is in Lebanon (30 mins from downtown).

[TerriMI]

. Just over the Kentucky border is Berea University. My neice just left for there last week. She is getting a teaching degree in order to be a missionary. She was able to get financial aid to help with expenses at the private Baptist (I believe) university. I know they are very conservative because she can't drive or have a car on campus until she is a sophomore.

 

QUOTE]

 

Berea College in Berea, KY is NOT religiously affiliated. They are proudly secular!!....and quite predominantly liberal! Berea is at least an hour north of the TN border.

 

No tomatoes thrown here. : ) Just correcting the information.

[SharoninTennessee]

My daughter is planning to go to Cumberland University in Lebanon, which is about 30 minutes east of Nashville. It's a small, private university and they offer a lot of automatic scholarships. It's very personable and close knit and they have a lot to offer for such a small school. They're also building a new freshman dorm building that will be ready for next fall. Even though my daughter's just a junior this year, we went to their preview day last spring and she fell in love with it, and we were very impressed. I'm pretty sure I saw that they had preview days coming up in October.

[TerriMI]

Wow! I just googled the Berea College site and the "About" section really makes it sound like they are serious about the Christian faith. That is NOT the story I get from the people that I know that live in Berea, have graduated from there and from the professor I know that currently teaches there........ It could be that either 1. Their definition of promoting the Christian faith and mine are drastically different or 2. They say what parents want to hear. Or....???...Wonder what other possibilities could be for the great discrepancy? Sorry for any confusion I caused. Obviously I am confused. Anybody out there have answers???

[Dmmetler]

Belmont is a very, very nice school, right in downtown Nashville, very close to Vanderbilt (and therefore able to share in many of the opportunities Vandy offers). It's got an especially wonderful music school (don't know as much about other programs).

 

I will warn you that I swear Belmont has the least comfortable beds in the history of the world-but maybe that's because I'd never stayed on campus there until I was in my mid-30s!

[mom31257]

Cleveland TN is home to Lee University, my Alma Mater. I've been gone for quite a few years, but it is a great private, liberal arts college. I know that it has had increased enrollment every year for over 20 years.

 

Cleveland is about 30 miles north of Chattanooga, TN.

[Tullia]

Wow! I just googled the Berea College site and the "About" section really makes it sound like they are serious about the Christian faith. That is NOT the story I get from the people that I know that live in Berea, have graduated from there and from the professor I know that currently teaches there........ It could be that either 1. Their definition of promoting the Christian faith and mine are drastically different or 2. They say what parents want to hear. Or....???...Wonder what other possibilities could be for the great discrepancy? Sorry for any confusion I caused. Obviously I am confused. Anybody out there have answers???

 

I have no direct experience with Berea, but some with similar institutions. My guess is that it's your reason number 1, but it is only a guess. I think some of the confusion may come from the fact that there have been some historical inversions (maybe that's not a valid term :D)of religious and political categories in the time since the college was founded. I have ancestors who were progressive, anti-slavery non-sectarian Christians who were part of the Republican party in the 19th century and were primarily motivated by the slavery question but also a cluster of what would be generally described as social justice issues today. Most, but not all, were devout Christians who accepted the authority of Scripture, but they probably wouldn't fit into the modern categories of fundamentalists, or evangelicals. I suspect that they would not be members of the today's Republican Party if they were still alive, but that's just a guess as well. Also, IME it's pretty common to see professors who don't strictly uphold the ideals of the institution they work for.

[K-FL]

FYI: CollegeBoard has a college matchmaker where you can answer the questions to narrow the search. One feature is X miles from a zip code. 37243 is the State Capitol's zip & pretty much smack downtown.

[mcconnellboys]

Belmont is in Nashville: http://www.belmont.edu/

 

Austin Peay is in Clarksville

 

Maryville College is in Maryville, at the gateway to the Smokies (beautiful)

 

Rhodes is in Memphis (but might be more than 30k now....)

[djkapp]

We visited both Covenant and Union Univeristy (in Jackson, TN). We were very impressed with both! DD1 decided Covenant was just too small, but she seriously considered Union. Ultimately she decided to stay closer to home and is a freshman at Baylor.

[creekland]

We visited both Covenant and Union Univeristy (in Jackson, TN). We were very impressed with both! DD1 decided Covenant was just too small, but she seriously considered Union. Ultimately she decided to stay closer to home and is a freshman at Baylor.

 

 

How does she like Baylor so far? If my middle son gets NMF, Baylor is quite possibly in our sights if they still offer free tuition. He wants Pre-Med or Science Research so having an inexpensive, but decent, undergrad will be our goal. I'm not fond of the distance from our house (PA), but...

[QueenCat]

Austin Peay is in Clarksville

 

 

Austin Peay is a small state school. Around 10,000 but 2,000 plus of those are online or at the Ft. Campbell campus. Ds has enjoyed his experience there thus far. There are several active campus ministries, even though it is a state school.

[Jyniffrec]

Cleveland TN is home to Lee University, my Alma Mater. I've been gone for quite a few years, but it is a great private, liberal arts college. I know that it has had increased enrollment every year for over 20 years.

 

Cleveland is about 30 miles north of Chattanooga, TN.

 

I live in Cleveland! :001_smile: My whole family went to Lee, all the way back to my grandfather. It is a good school, especially for music majors.

[Kim in Appalachia]

I have friends how have attended/are attending Berea. It's a good school. It's as Christian as most "Christian" schools are. Not every student there is a Christian so that does affect the campus. The professors are probably more on the liberal side, liberal for SE KY that is. But, it can be a very good college choice, especially if you are from the area and qualify for the tution (which is by income). College can be what you make it. If you work hard there, you can get an excellent education.