NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee private, nonprofit colleges and universities account for more than $22 billion in economic activity a year, according to a statewide study now being broken out campus by campus.
The Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association, which speaks for 34 private schools, paid for the study, and Regional Economic Consulting Group prepared it. It counts campus operations, construction, student spending and the added earning power of graduates who stay in the state.
Across the sector, the schools support 135,490 jobs and close to $6.8 billion in income. Even though the colleges are self-funded and tax-exempt, the spending around them returns more than $695 million a year to state and local governments through sales and property taxes.
Vanderbilt University released its share Monday. The study credits the Nashville school with $7 billion in activity statewide, 43,677 jobs, $2.2 billion in income and $169 million in tax impact for state and local governments. Its direct spending includes $1.2 billion for operations, $270 million in capital projects and $146 million that students spend off campus on housing, food and other needs, while $2.3 billion is tied to the higher earnings of alumni living in Tennessee.
The Vanderbilt figures leave out Vanderbilt University Medical Center, draw on the 2023-24 academic year and assume 55% of graduates remain in the state, with earnings measured across a 30-year career.
The effect reaches well beyond Nashville. Lee University in Cleveland, for example, was credited with $612 million in economic activity, 3,682 jobs and $24 million in tax revenue for state and local governments during a single school year.
The member schools had a combined fall 2025 enrollment above 79,000, with a workforce topping 21,000 faculty and staff. Association president Cameron Conn said in a statement that the numbers show independent schools are proven partners for students, communities and the state.
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