LPN SCHOOLS IN TENNESSEE — Federal Data, September 2026
LPN Schools in Tennessee, Ranked On What Graduates Owe And Earn
26 accredited institutions in Tennessee report enough federal data on this program to be compared. They are ranked here on a single measure: how many months of gross pay it takes a graduate to cover the median debt.
See The RankingU.S. Department of Education data. No school paid to be listed.
Across the 26 ranked programs in Tennessee, the median graduate needs 3.2 months of gross pay to cover a median federal debt of $9,712, against median earnings of $40,888 one year after completion.
That is faster than the national median of 4.3 months for this field, measured across the 650 institutions in our national LPN schools ranking. The best performer in the state is Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Hartsville in Hartsville, at 1.5 months.
Every figure on this page is recalculated on Tennessee institutions only. Nothing is carried over from the national page.
At A Glance
What the federal data says about LPN schools in Tennessee
The Ranking
26 LPN schools in Tennessee, ranked by months of gross pay to cover the debt
Lower is better.
| # | School | Type | Award | Months | Debt | Earnings | Completion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-HartsvilleHartsville, TN | Public | Certificate | 1.5 | $5,846 | $46,390 | 82% |
| 2 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology CrumpCrump, TN | Public | Certificate | 1.6 | $6,000 | $44,134 | 63% |
| 3 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Upper CumberlandCrossville, TN | Public | Certificate | 1.7 | $6,398 | $44,915 | 84% |
| 4 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-HohenwaldHohenwald, TN | Public | Certificate | 1.8 | $6,500 | $42,694 | 65% |
| 5 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-JacksboroJacksboro, TN | Public | Certificate | 2.1 | $7,439 | $42,300 | 84% |
| 6 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-MorristownMorristown, TN | Public | Certificate | 2.4 | $8,000 | $39,477 | 80% |
| 7 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology NorthwestNewbern, TN | Public | Certificate | 2.4 | $7,500 | $37,350 | 69% |
| 8 | TCAT AthensAthens, TN | Public | Certificate | 2.5 | $9,925 | $46,871 | 95% |
| 9 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-LivingstonLivingston, TN | Public | Certificate | 2.6 | $5,704 | $25,955 | 78% |
| 10 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-MurfreesboroMurfreesboro, TN | Public | Certificate | 2.9 | $10,723 | $44,555 | 76% |
| 11 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Henry/CarrollParis, TN | Public | Certificate | 2.9 | $9,500 | $39,112 | 75% |
| 12 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-JacksonJackson, TN | Public | Certificate | 2.9 | $9,500 | $39,078 | 80% |
| 13 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-DicksonDickson, TN | Public | Certificate | 3.1 | $11,000 | $42,651 | 74% |
| 14 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-ElizabethtonElizabethton, TN | Public | Certificate | 3.2 | $9,000 | $33,692 | 81% |
| 15 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-KnoxvilleKnoxville, TN | Public | Certificate | 3.3 | $10,639 | $38,388 | 71% |
| 16 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-HarrimanHarriman, TN | Public | Certificate | 3.4 | $10,601 | $37,837 | 69% |
| 17 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-MemphisMemphis, TN | Public | Certificate | 3.8 | $14,040 | $44,669 | 55% |
| 18 | Chattanooga State Community CollegeChattanooga, TN | Public | Certificate | 3.9 | $11,875 | $36,350 | 26% |
| 19 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology-PulaskiPulaski, TN | Public | Certificate | 4.5 | $12,954 | $34,623 | 75% |
| 20 | Tennessee College of Applied Technology NashvilleNashville, TN | Public | Certificate | 4.7 | $19,966 | $51,085 | 70% |
| 21 | Chattanooga College Medical Dental and & Technical CareersChattanooga, TN | for-profit | Certificate | 4.8 | $20,029 | $50,437 | 12% |
| 22 | South CollegeKnoxville, TN | for-profit | Certificate | 4.8 | $15,833 | $39,238 | 42% |
| 23 | Remington College-Memphis CampusMemphis, TN | nonprofit | Certificate | 4.8 | $9,500 | $23,917 | 38% |
| 24 | Remington College-Nashville CampusNashville, TN | nonprofit | Certificate | 4.8 | $9,500 | $23,917 | 47% |
| 25 | Herzing University-NashvilleNashville, TN | nonprofit | Certificate | 5.7 | $22,586 | $47,310 | n/a |
| 26 | Miller-Motte College-ChattanoogaChattanooga, TN | for-profit | Associate | 5.8 | $21,879 | $45,301 | 60% |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, Most Recent Cohorts by Field of Study and by Institution (published 9 June 2026). Debt is the median federal Stafford and Grad PLUS loan debt of completers in this program; earnings are median earnings one year after completion. Where a school offers the program at both certificate and associate level, the shorter payback is shown. Completion is the institution’s published rate, not the program’s.
The Top Five, In Detail
The five fastest payback programs in Tennessee, one by one
Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Hartsville
Hartsville, TN
Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Hartsville is a public institution in Hartsville. Its practical nursing graduates leave with a median federal debt of $5,846 and report median earnings of $46,390 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 1.5 months of gross pay: the fastest payback in the state, and 1.7 months faster than the Tennessee state median of 3.2. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 82% completion rate.
Tennessee College of Applied Technology Crump
Crump, TN
Tennessee College of Applied Technology Crump is a public institution in Crump. Its practical nursing graduates leave with a median federal debt of $6,000 and report median earnings of $44,134 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 1.6 months of gross pay: the second fastest in the state, and 1.6 months faster than the Tennessee state median of 3.2. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 63% completion rate.
Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Upper Cumberland
Crossville, TN
Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Upper Cumberland is a public institution in Crossville. Its practical nursing graduates leave with a median federal debt of $6,398 and report median earnings of $44,915 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 1.7 months of gross pay: the third fastest in the state, and 1.5 months faster than the Tennessee state median of 3.2. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 84% completion rate.
Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Hohenwald
Hohenwald, TN
Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Hohenwald is a public institution in Hohenwald. Its practical nursing graduates leave with a median federal debt of $6,500 and report median earnings of $42,694 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 1.8 months of gross pay: fourth in the state, and 1.4 months faster than the Tennessee state median of 3.2. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 65% completion rate.
Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Jacksboro
Jacksboro, TN
Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Jacksboro is a public institution in Jacksboro. Its practical nursing graduates leave with a median federal debt of $7,439 and report median earnings of $42,300 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 2.1 months of gross pay: fifth in the state, and 1.1 months faster than the Tennessee state median of 3.2. The award measured here is a certificate. The institution reports a 84% completion rate.
Read It Carefully
What this ranking does not measure
Absence from this page is not a verdict. The Department of Education suppresses figures for programs with small cohorts, so a small, excellent school will often have no publishable data at all. Schools that enroll no students on federal aid are outside this dataset entirely.
The measure is a ratio, not a repayment plan, and it counts federal loan debt only. Cash payments, private loans and employer sponsorship are invisible here. Local wages shape earnings as much as the school does, which is exactly why comparing inside one state, as this page does, is more informative than comparing across the country.
Other States
The same program, another state
Other Programs in Tennessee
Comparing a different trade in Tennessee
For TENNESSEE School Operators
Want to know how your program ranks against these?
We run this analysis for individual schools against their own federal data and show them where they sit against both the Tennessee median and the national one. Where the answer is good, it is the strongest recruitment argument a school owns.
Book Your Free Enrollment AuditBy application only — reserved for trade and vocational school operators enrolling 50+ students a year.