Skip Navigation

About Motlow State

Since 1969

Welcome. We are excited that you are interested in Motlow State. Come join us. We are on a mission to improve lives through the lasting power of education.

It doesn't take long to see why people revere Motlow. We are a college filled with passion for learning and growing. Our student surveys consistently demonstrate that we are welcoming, supportive, and innovative. Our students, employees, and partners praise Motlow for having a safe, inclusive, family character. We measure our success by the achievements of those we serve, and we judge our accomplishments by the lives we change.

Motlow is best known for:

  • Student success
  • Academic quality
  • Variety of programs
  • Accessibility
  • Small classes sizes
  • TN Promise scholarships
  • TN Reconnect scholarships
  • Hope scholarships
  • Safe campuses
  • Affordable tuition
  • High percentage of scholarshipped and financial aid students
  • Commitment to inclusion, engagement, diversity, belonging and equity
  • Emerging technologies
  • Transfer programs
  • In-field job placement rates
  • Industry partnerships

What is Motlow State

Motlow is a public, multi-campus college in southern middle Tennessee. The College offers certificates, associate degrees, and flexible learning pathways towards a variety of bachelor’s degrees and industry-recognized training programs that lead to high-wage, high-demand careers.

The College’s mission is student success. We serve transfer and degree-seeking as well as non-credit students pursuing continuing education units, certifications, professional development, and industry-recognized credentials through MotlowTrained and specialized automation & robotics training.

Motlow opened in 1969 as a small campus located in Moore County near Tullahoma, Tennessee, on 187 acres of land donated by the late Senator Reagor Motlow and family. Motlow State is a powerful economic engine in middle Tennessee. As the region grows, so does the College. In addition to expansion of the Moore County campus, the College has locations in Fayetteville, McMinnville, Smyrna, and Sparta. Motlow serves over 640,000 people in an 11-county service area including Bedford, Cannon, Coffee, Dekalb, Franklin, Lincoln, Moore, Rutherford, Van Buren, Warren and White.

Motlow features Tennessee Promise and Reconnect scholarships. Both allow eligible Tennessee students to receive an award at Motlow toward tuition and mandatory fees after all other aid has been applied. Promise is for Tennessee high school graduates, while Reconnect is for adults without degrees.

The wide range of quality academic programs offered at Motlow results from the steady expansion of degree programs to provide pathways for shifting market needs. In addition to general education courses, students may choose from two-year associate degree programs in more than forty disciplines.

Motlow has a robust selection of articulation agreements with state institutions that offer Motlow graduates a host of unique benefits and supported pathways toward 4-year degrees through Tennessee Transfer Pathways. Several universities also teach on Motlow campuses, allowing students to complete 4-year degrees close to home. Motlow is one of Tennessee’s top performing institutions in providing early postsecondary opportunities, and consistently leads the state in Dual Enrollment programming.

Motlow State is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. In addition to such regional accreditation considered essential for all degree-granting institutions of higher learning, Motlow has achieved endorsement from other accrediting bodies in recognition of its success at the program level.

In addition to its nationally recognized reputation for automation, robotics, and mechatronics, Motlow has a reputation for integration of emerging technologies into the learning environment from traditional and hybrid, to online, cohort, and fast-track.

Motlow’s quality, flexibility, and variety of programs are crafted to meet the needs of all students. Whether you are still in high school, a recent high school graduate, returning to complete a degree, seeking higher education for the first time as an adult student, or interested in advancing your career, we can help. Motlow's mission is student success. Your success. 

Scroll to top