What Kind of School It Is, in Brief
The system that classifies colleges in this country—Carnegie—describes Rhodes College as a baccalaureate college focused on arts and sciences: small, four-year, and “highly residential.” That last term has a precise meaning, not a decorative one: at the time of that classification, at least half of degree-seeking undergraduates lived in housing owned by or affiliated with the school, and at least 80 out of every 100 attended full time. Carnegie also places it in its more selective admissions group.
Keep something in mind: “highly residential” is not the same as “inexpensive.” Living on campus is paid for separately from tuition, and we will get to those numbers. And “more selective” does not tell you how many out of every hundred applicants are admitted—that is a different figure, and you will see it below.
Rhodes is in Memphis, within Shelby County, in a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more. If your child were considering living at home and commuting to campus, that is something only you can verify by driving the route on a weekday at the actual time of their classes. The map almost never tells the whole truth.
It is a private, nonprofit, four-year institution and reports a master’s degree as the highest level it offers—although that is an institutional fact and does not guarantee that your child’s specific major has that pathway. And it is not classified as a historically Black college or university, a tribal college or university, or a land-grant institution. That says nothing about which communities it serves today or how your child would feel there—that is something to ask directly by speaking with someone who already attends the campus.
The Size and Who Shares the Classroom with Your Child
Rhodes had 1,952 students enrolled in the official fall count, of whom 1,936 were undergraduates. It is a medium-sized school—neither among the large schools nor the small ones compared with its 941 selective private peers in this census. Above all, it is a baccalaureate school: graduate enrollment is marginal.
Now, the composition. I want to be direct with you here because this is one of the figures Latino families ask about most: out of every 100 undergraduates, 7 are Hispanic or Latino. It is a small minority, and the school ranks below the midpoint among its comparable schools. That does not make the school bad, nor would having many Latino students make it good by itself—it is simply a fact about who is enrolled today. If your child will be among the few, the task is concrete: ask what Latino student organization exists, whether there is a cultural center, whether anyone in the office speaks Spanish, and speak with a current student before deciding.
Other facts about who shares the campus: there are more women than men (58 out of every 100), there are almost no adult students (2 out of every 100 are between 25 and 64 years old), and fewer than half of first-time students—36 out of every 100—had permanent residence in Tennessee. Most come from outside the state.
How the Academic Year Works and How Broad the Offerings Are
The calendar follows traditional semesters: two terms of about 15 weeks. Rhodes accepts credit for AP exams, but not for life experience, and it does not enroll high school students in college-credit courses. Accepting AP does not mean that every exam qualifies: we do not know what score is required or whether those credits apply to your child’s specific major. Ask for that in writing before enrolling; do not assume it blindly.
In the most recently reported year, Rhodes awarded 477 bachelor’s degrees across 18 fields of study. The most popular was biological and biomedical sciences, with only 21 out of every 100 degrees—no single field accounts for the bulk of them. The offerings are broad and distributed, rather than dominated by a single major. Even so, “18 fields with a row in the report” does not equal 18 actual majors with active students: you need to verify the exact program that interests your child.
The student-to-instructional-staff ratio is 11 to 1—low compared with its peers. It is an aggregate figure, not the actual size of a first-year class, and the federal file does not say exactly how it was calculated. It is a signal, not a guarantee of personalized attention.
Rhodes also reports structured pathways: study abroad and teacher-certification preparation routes, including state approval for initial certification.
The Entrance Door: How It Admits Students and Whom It Admits
This is where many families feel the most anxiety, so let’s proceed calmly and use the exact numbers.
Rhodes does not have open admission. Of the nine components reviewed in the federal report, excluding standardized tests and legacy status, Rhodes marks six as required: high school record, GPA, the specific college-preparatory course plan it requires, a personal essay, letters of recommendation, and an English-proficiency exam for applicants to whom it applies. It is a long application, one that takes time to assemble rather than something completed in one night. The published application fee, incidentally, is $0.
There is one component your child cannot change: the school does consider whether a relative attended. If that does not apply to your child, do not spend energy worrying about it—spend that energy on what is within your control.
How selective is it in practice? In the 2023 cycle, Rhodes received 6,025 first-time applications and offered admission to 2,993. That is 50 out of every 100—half. Compared with its 942 selective private peers, it ranks on the lower side: seven out of ten of those schools accept a higher percentage of applicants. Admission is not assured, but neither is it a lottery. The application is reviewed thoroughly.
And here is a figure that surprises many families: out of every 100 admitted students, only 16 ultimately enroll. The others, despite having an offer of admission in hand, decide to go elsewhere. Do not read this as a stain on the school—the federal record does not say why each person made that choice. What you need to do is wait for your own letter with the net price and decide using that number, not what other families did.
Regarding tests: the SAT and ACT are not required. Only 8 out of every 100 enrolled students submitted SAT scores, and among them the middle half scored between 650-730 in reading/writing and 640-760 in mathematics. Those ranges describe students who were already enrolled and chose to submit their scores—they are not a minimum your child must reach or a guarantee if your child reaches them.
Regarding transfers: from a cohort that entered in 2017, 17 out of every 100 left for another institution without completing at Rhodes. Changing schools is not failing. What is worth doing is making sure your child knows in advance how to request the documents needed to leave, should that ever become necessary.
The Sticker Price: The Frightening Figure
For 2023-24, Rhodes’s published cost of attendance for a first-time, full-time student living on campus was $71,546. It breaks down as follows:
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Tuition and fees | $54,892 |
| Housing and food | $12,910 |
| Books and supplies | $1,125 |
| Other estimated expenses | (remainder up to the total) |
This total is the same for students from inside or outside Tennessee—Rhodes does not charge a different rate based on state residency. And compared with 888 similar schools, this published cost ranks among the highest in the group.
But—and this is important—this number is the sticker price, not a bill. It is the figure used to calculate aid, not necessarily what your family will pay. You will not know the actual number until you complete the FAFSA and receive the financial-aid letter in writing.
The Net Price: What Really Matters
At Rhodes College, among 34 first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal Title IV aid and whose EFC records showed family income below $30,000, the average net price was $12,814. Among 34 students in the same population with EFC family income from $48,001 to $75,000, it was $16,317; among 133 students with EFC family income above $110,000, it was $33,764. For dependent students, the band combines their parents’ income with their own.
There is a difference of $20,950 between the average for the lowest-income band (34 students) and the average for the highest-income band (133 students). These are group averages, not a prediction of your family’s price. Among first-year students who received any scholarship or grant, the average was $30,590.
Among the 937 schools of the same type and control included in this census that reported this measure with the same time coverage, Rhodes ranks in the least expensive quartile for the lowest-income families after scholarships and grants are subtracted. That does not mean it will be inexpensive for your family. It is a fact that carries weight when you decide which schools to apply to.
Because the price changes so much from one income band to another, correctly identifying yours comes first. The income bands in this profile describe first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal Title IV aid; at public institutions, they use the in-state or in-district rate. The overall average with scholarships and grants, when shown, describes first-time, full-time, credential-seeking students who received federal, state, local, or institutional scholarships or grants. The financial-aid letter sent to you is what governs.
Aid: Almost Everyone Receives Something, but Be Careful with the Average
At Rhodes, 98 out of every 100 degree-seeking students receive some scholarship or grant aid that does not have to be repaid. Among recipients, the average was $36,832 per year—but it is an average: it includes people who received much more and people who received much less. It is not your offer.
The Pell Grant—federal aid for low-income families—reached only 15 out of every 100 students. In other words, at least 83 out of every 100 received aid from another source: the school, the state, or somewhere else. The report does not distinguish where each scholarship or grant came from, so ask directly: who provides it, who qualifies, and what is required to renew it each year.
Regarding federal loans: 28 out of every 100 undergraduates received them in the 2022-23 academic year, with an average of $6,064 per person that year. Compared with its peers, Rhodes ranks on the lower side for borrowing. But this number describes other families, not yours—and it also excludes Parent PLUS loans and debt accumulated over multiple years. The amount your child would need to borrow comes from your child’s own financial-aid letter, not this average.
Rhodes also offers a prepaid tuition plan and an installment payment plan for families that want to organize the cost differently.
Campus Life and Support
Rhodes has institution-owned housing, with a reported maximum capacity of 1,613 students. Not all first-time students are required to live there, although that does not rule out the possibility that a specific program may require it—ask about the exact rule.
It offers ROTC opportunities in all three branches (Army, Navy, and Air Force, plus the Marine Corps option within Navy)—something only 135 of the 3,012 colleges in this directory report. That gives you someone to call, not a guarantee of a place or scholarship; ask for the program by name.
It competes in NCAA-affiliated intercollegiate athletics, with reported participation in football, basketball, baseball, and cross-country/track and field. If your child plays, the next step is to write directly to the coach.
It offers no distance-education courses—at either the undergraduate or graduate level. If your child needs scheduling flexibility because of work or caring for someone at home, this is something to address directly, because everything is in person.
The library has paid staff, physical and digital collections, and interlibrary loan. The school also reports combined academic and career counseling, employment services, job-placement services for graduates, participation in the Yellow Ribbon Program for veterans, and a webpage for services for students with disabilities.
Do Students Stay and Graduate?
For many families, this is the question that matters most: if my child enrolls, will they finish?
Of the cohort that entered in fall 2022, 91 out of every 100 were still enrolled or had already graduated one year later. This is a high figure compared with its peers—the school ranks among those that retain the largest share of their students. But keep in mind that this number combines two groups, those still enrolled and those who had already graduated, and does not say what happened to the other 9 out of every 100.
Of the cohort that entered in 2017, 82 out of every 100 graduated within six years, and 77 out of every 100 had already done so within four. This is a strong figure, in the highest quartile among its peers. Of the remainder of that cohort of 512 students, 89 transferred to another school without graduating here, just 1 remained enrolled without completing, and 4 were simply no longer tracked in the system.
And when an even older cohort was followed for eight years, 84 out of every 100 completed a Rhodes degree—including 81 out of every 100 among Pell Grant recipients, just 4 points below the rest.
These are good numbers. But a high percentage is not a promise for your child in particular. It describes what happened to an earlier cohort. What is within your control is making sure your child enters with their credits in order, knows from the first semester who their adviser is, and knows the registration dates for the courses required by their major.
What These Data Do Not Tell You
None of this tells you whether your child will be happy there, whether they will find their people, or whether the specific major they want is well structured on this campus. Official data are the firm ground on which you can stand, not a complete map of the road. Three things complete that map: what this college actually offers—which you now understand better—what your child wants and has built so far, and what your family can and is willing to pay.
If you live far from Memphis, ask yourselves how far from home you are willing to have your child be. If money is the greatest concern, start with the FAFSA and wait for the actual financial-aid letter before crossing this school off or underlining it on the list. If you are looking for a large Latino community, it is small here—and that is something to weigh calmly, not fearfully.
You now understand one important piece of this decision in depth. Bring it together with the other two, and from there, little by little, a plan will emerge.
Source note: The information in this article comes from official data reported to IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) and the United States Department of Education for the years and cohorts indicated in each section. Best College Aid does not represent Rhodes College or the United States government; this article does not replace information obtained directly from the college or the financial-aid letter received by each family.