Software Engineering Degrees in Tennessee for 2027
Tennessee has 1 program titled software engineering at 1 school, and 33 computer science programs. This guide covers each one, what it costs, and what software developers earn in the state.
Kevin ToFounder & Editor·B.S. in Computer Science, Temple University·Updated
Software engineering programs
1
titled software engineering
ABET-accredited
0
ABET’s list, 2026-09-30
Computer science programs
33
IPEDS 2024
Median pay, software developers
$122,430
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Key takeaways
01Tennessee has 1 degree titled software engineering, a bachelor’s, at 1 school, plus 33 computer science programs. Lipscomb ranks first among the state’s bachelor’s programs, with a score of 35.9 out of 100, #58 nationally. Each program below is checked against the school’s own page. It is Lipscomb’s bachelor’s.
02At Tennessee’s public schools, the median undergraduate tuition for 2023–24 was $8,630 in state and $15,682 out of state, so residency saves about $7,052 a year at the median. Private schools had a median of $29,750. These IPEDS figures are one per school and leave out fees, housing and financial aid.
03Software developers in Tennessee earned a median of $122,430 in May 2025, against $135,980 nationally, and half earned between $90,750 and $138,890. The state employed 19,030 of them. Nationally, BLS projects the occupation to grow 10.2% from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5% for all occupations.
04Prices in Tennessee were 8.1% below the national average in 2024, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s measure, and housing stood at 79.1 against a national 100. At national prices, the state’s developer median goes as far as about $133,220. BEA’s 2024 figures are its latest, a year behind the pay data.
05Neighboring states with programs titled software engineering: Georgia (4), North Carolina (3), Alabama (2) and Kentucky (2). Each has its own guide with the same comparisons of programs, cost and pay, so a program across the state line can be weighed against one at home, keeping in mind that a public school charges nonresidents more.
This guide
Studying software engineering in Tennessee
A degree titled software engineering puts design, testing and the management of large software projects at the center, where computer science centers on computation itself. Tennessee offers both, and many software engineers hold either one.
What this page covers
Software engineering programs: the 1 bachelor’s or master’s degree in Tennessee titled software engineering, each checked against the school’s own page.
Computer science programs: the state’s 33 bachelor’s and master’s programs in computer science, from federal data.
Online programs: software engineering degrees from our rankings that can be completed online.
Not included: associate degrees, certificates, bootcamps, doctoral programs and degrees in related fields such as information technology.
Methodology
How we ranked these programs
Programs in Tennessee are ranked against each other at the same degree level, highest score first. The score is out of 100 and comes from our national rankings, so a program carries the same score on every page of this site. It isn’t curved for Tennessee: each factor is measured against fixed national standards, which is why even the strongest program here can sit well below 100.
The bachelor’s score
Lipscomb: #58 of 75 nationally
Lipscomb leads in Tennessee with 35.9 out of 100
Across the country the median bachelor’s score is 56.7 and the highest is 87.0. Its biggest gap is ABET accreditation, where it earns 0 of 25 points. Every scored program is in Best Bachelor’s in Software Engineering.
Scored factors
100 pts total
Cost25 pts
The school’s average net price after grants (IPEDS), in fixed dollar tiers.
Under $12,00025 pts
$12,000 to $15,99920 pts
$16,000 to $19,99915 pts
$20,000 to $24,99910 pts
$25,000 to $31,9995 pts
$32,000 or more0 pts
Completion35 pts
The school’s eight-year completion rate for all entering students (IPEDS Outcome Measures), as a share of the points.
ABET accreditation25 pts
Full points if the program is on ABET’s own accredited list, none if not.
Program size15 pts
Graduates a year, on a log scale that reaches full points at 100.
Each program is ranked against the others in Tennessee at the same degree level, by the score our national rankings use. Tuition is IPEDS 2023–24; grad rate is the school’s. Full details for a ranked program are on its ranking page.
Bachelor’s
Master’s
Top 3 in Tennessee
Not ranked
Bachelor’s in software engineering
1 program
#1 in Tennessee
35.9of 100
Lipscomb
Nashville, TN
BSCampus
In-state
$35,848
Out-of-state
$35,848
Completion
67%
Four-course Software Studio project sequence
Lipscomb's software engineering B.S. totals 126 credit hours and is taught in person through the School of Computing. Of those, 38 hours are the university core, 70 are the major and 9 are electives from 3000 or 4000-level CS, SENG, SEC or IT courses. The core includes an engineering and computing ethics course and Technical Writing. The major pairs programming with Data Structures, Database Management Systems, Computer Organization, Operating Systems, Computer Graphics and both Design and Analysis of Algorithms and Advanced Algorithms.
Four project courses, Software Studio I through IV, run on fall and spring schedules after Introduction to Software Engineering. The math requirements are Calculus I, Discrete Mathematics, Elementary Statistics and Linear Algebra. You also take Cloud Services, Network Principles, User Interface Design and Fundamentals of Information Security. The page notes an internship is not a required course but can be taken as an elective for one to three hours. A 21-hour software engineering minor uses Software Studio I and II.
Compare
Tennessee software engineering programs side by side
Tennessee software engineering programs compared, by level
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24, at the program’s level (a master’s figure is the school’s graduate average). Grad rate: the school’s six-year rate for bachelor’s students. Grads/yr: IPEDS, three-year average. ABET: ABET’s list, retrieved 2026-09-30. #: the program’s rank among Tennessee’s ranked programs at its level; NR, not ranked. Score: out of 100, the same score as on the ranking pages.
Computer science
Computer science programs in Tennessee
25 schools, 32 programs in the table below.
Computer science is the neighboring degree, and many software engineers hold it. These rows come from federal data, not from each school’s page.
Also offered: master’s at The University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24, in-state, before fees and aid; undergraduate for a bachelor’s, and for a master’s the school-wide average across graduate students, which excludes program fees. School grad rate: the school’s six-year rate for bachelor’s students (IPEDS); N/A on master’s rows, because federal data has no graduation rate for master’s programs. ABET: on ABET’s computing (CAC) or engineering (EAC) list, retrieved 2026-10-05; a blank cell means not accredited. A school is in the table when it has at least two of a tuition figure, a grad rate or ABET accreditation, and a program page we could link; the rest are listed under it. SE track: named on the school’s own page.
Cost
What it costs in Tennessee
Public, in-state
$8,630
median of 8 schools
Public, out-of-state
$15,682
median of 8 schools
Private
$29,750
median of 15 schools
Living in Tennessee is worth about $7,052 a year in tuition at the median public school, the gap between the two public medians. Over a four-year degree that is roughly $28,208, before any change in rates.
Prices in Tennessee were 91.9 against a national 100 in 2024, and housing 79.1, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s Regional Price Parities. 2024 is BEA’s latest year, a year behind the May 2025 pay figures on this page.
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24 undergraduate tuition, one figure per school, for the 23 schools with a bachelor’s program in this guide; a median needs at least 3 schools. Excludes fees, housing and aid. Prices: BEA Regional Price Parities by state, 2024, all items and housing services.
Job market
The software job market in Tennessee
Tennessee employed 19,030 software developers in May 2025. Its location quotient for the occupation is 0.53: the jobs are less concentrated in the state than nationally. Nationally, BLS projects software developer jobs to grow 10.2% from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5% for all occupations.
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Tennessee. Location quotient: the state’s share of employment in the occupation divided by the national share (1.0 = the national rate). Growth: BLS Employment Projections, 2025-35, national.
Metro areas
Among the 50 largest U.S. metros, 2 are in Tennessee. Software developer employment and pay in each:
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, metropolitan areas, May 2025, software developers. Metro areas are federal CBSAs and can cross state lines; only the 50 largest are on file.
Pay
What software developers earn in Tennessee
$75,28010th
$90,75025th
$122,430median
$138,89075th
$166,38090th
Software developers, Tennessee, BLS OEWS May 2025. National median: $135,980.
The state median is $122,430, $13,550 below the national $135,980. Half of the state’s software developers earn between $90,750 and $138,890.
BEA puts prices in Tennessee at 91.9 against a national 100 (2024), so the median goes as far as $133,220 would nationally, $2,760 less than the national median.
BEA price parities, 2024; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Online options
Online software engineering degrees for Tennessee residents
If no program in Tennessee fits, these are the highest-scoring online programs in our rankings. Confirm with each school that it enrolls students living in Tennessee.
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24 out-of-state, the rate an online student from another state usually pays (a master’s figure is the school’s graduate average); a published rate is the school’s own price. National rank and score: our national ranking at the program’s level.
How many software engineering programs are in Tennessee?
1 degree titled software engineering, a bachelor’s, at 1 school. 0 of them are on ABET’s accredited list.
What is the best software engineering school in Tennessee?
Lipscomb ranks first of the 1 ranked bachelor’s programs in Tennessee, with a score of 35.9 out of 100 (#58 nationally). The score combines completion, net price, ABET accreditation and program size.
How much does a software engineering degree cost in Tennessee?
Across Tennessee’s public schools in this guide, median undergraduate tuition for 2023–24 was $8,630 for residents and $15,682 for nonresidents; at private schools the median was $29,750. These IPEDS figures exclude fees and housing.
How much do software engineers make in Tennessee?
Software developers, the BLS occupation that includes software engineers, earned a median of $122,430 in Tennessee in May 2025. The 10th percentile was $75,280 and the 90th $166,380.
Is Tennessee pay worth it after cost of living?
BEA puts Tennessee’s prices at 91.9 against a national 100 in 2024. Divided by that, the developer median of $122,430 is worth about $133,220 at national prices.
Can Tennessee residents take a software engineering degree online?
Yes. Kennesaw State, Minnesota-Crookston and University of Arizona are among the online software engineering programs in our rankings. Check with each school that it enrolls students living in Tennessee.
2NCES IPEDS institutional charges, 2023–24Tuition at the program’s level, and undergraduate tuition per school for the cost medians. Excludes fees, housing and aid.
3NCES IPEDS graduation ratesThe school’s six-year graduation rate, for the whole school rather than the program; IPEDS DRVGR2023 where the main pull has no figure.
4Each school’s own program pageProgram name, delivery, credits, and every bullet on the program cards, quoted from the saved page. Read .
