Best PhD in Nursing Programs in Tennessee, Ranked (2026)

You leave with three papers rather than one bound book. The three-manuscript dissertation publishes your work as you go, and Knoxville sits on close to half of Tennessee's federal nursing research money.

Where it wins. $2.09 million of the $4.29 million in NINR awards held across all five Tennessee programs, and eight PhDs conferred, the most in the state. Three entry points, plus a DNP-to-PhD route that finishes in three years part-time.

What you give up. Eighty-three credits is the heaviest load in Tennessee, about $53,037 at $639 a credit against $34,980 at Memphis. The doctoral intensives cannot be missed, made up or substituted, so those on-campus dates are immovable.

ETSU is the one Tennessee program you can finish without ever standing on the campus. The semester intensives run on Zoom, so the travel every other program in the state treats as non-negotiable simply is not.

Where it wins. Asynchronous coursework with 2-3 day intensives you attend by Zoom or in Johnson City, your call. Rural health is a named focus, and Tennessee's faculty median of $80,050 sits within $1,500 of the state's RN median, so the move into teaching costs little here.

What you give up. Five to seven students admitted each fall makes for a tiny cohort and competitive admission, and no NINR-funded research operates in the building, so your support is faculty time rather than a funded lab.

Tennessee's only funded nursing doctorate, and it is delivered online, which is an unusual pairing anywhere. The catch is that funded here means tuition, and full-time enrolment is mandatory, so the job goes regardless.

Where it wins. Tuition fully funded for up to four years of required didactic and research coursework, in a state where the other four programs expect you to pay your own way. Weekly synchronous classes tie you to live faculty research projects rather than standalone coursework.

What you give up. Vanderbilt admits only when a faculty member already works in your area, so your question has to fit their bench. Full-time only, with no part-time route, in a state where four of five programs offer one.

You are admitted to the College of Graduate Health Sciences here, not to the nursing college, on a campus of roughly 3,100 students. That structural difference decides who you sit next to for three years.

Where it wins. Biostatistics, health policy and medical ethics are taken alongside doctoral students from the rest of the health science center, which is why the research reads bio-behavioral rather than educational. Dissertation research can be conducted in Memphis or anywhere else.

What you give up. An on-campus week opens and closes every term, and the first two terms carry weekly or biweekly face-to-face meetings, so Memphis is not optional early. The March 15 deadline also sits behind a February 1 priority date.

$583 a credit, $34,980 across the 60-credit degree, makes this the cheapest doctorate in Tennessee, roughly $18,000 under UT Knoxville. It is also the only one in the state with a spring intake.

Where it wins. You choose the dissertation format, five traditional chapters or a proposal plus two data-driven manuscripts submitted for publication. A post-DNP pathway transfers up to 15 credits, and admission runs twice a year rather than once.

What you give up. Residency rules require the final 30 credits, including all nine dissertation hours, be earned at Memphis, so transfer credit only helps at the front end. No NINR-funded research operates here.