MURFREESBORO and FRANKLIN, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University’s three-month True Blue Tour recently wrapped up close to home, awarding over $1 million in scholarships throughout the fall while attracting a host of excited prospective students and families learning about what the Blue Raider campus has to offer — and deciding whether it’s the right fit to continue their academic journeys.

This year’s 15-stop tour, including two Nashville stops, took top campus administrators and MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee on the road to roll out the blue carpet and showcase all MTSU has to offer — over 300 undergraduate and graduate degree majors and concentrations, nationally ranked student programming and over $2 billion invested in academic facilities over the last 20 years on a 550-acre campus located in the heart of Middle Tennessee.

The $1,146,550 in scholarships awarded during the tour included 151 individual scholarships given to prospective students whose names were drawn at the evening student receptions at each stop, but the bulk of which — almost $983,000 in scholarships — was awarded to the 368 schools represented at the luncheons for high school guidance counselors and community college advisors to take back to their institutions to award to students as they deem appropriate.

“MTSU has had tremendous success,” McPhee told a room full of counselors and college advisors during a luncheon held at the tour’s final stop at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs convention center on Nov. 13. “We have at least one student from all 95 counties in Tennessee, we are the top transfer school, we have a 554-bed luxury apartment being built on campus that will be ready in two years, a proposed campus hotel for tourism and hospitality students.

“This is not a university that is static. We are the complete package.”

MTSU top pick for quadruplets

For the Peveto quadruplets from Franklin, MTSU is a one-stop shop for all their career pathways, so it just made sense — and it’s just 45 minutes from home.

“We grew up together and we wanted to go to college together, and MTSU was the only school that had everybody’s major,” said Franklin High School senior Cooper Peveto, who will major in biology, housed in the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, with plans to teach one day after completing ROTC training. 

“And it’s affordable,” chimed in sister Lainey Peveto, who plans to major in music marketing housed in the Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment.

Sister Avery Peveto has done her research and believes that MTSU’s College of Education — home to the “difference makers” — will set her up to become an elementary school teacher. Brother Tanner Peveto, the only sibling attending Franklin’s Renaissance High School for creative arts, will land alongside his sister in the media and entertainment college, where he plans to major in music production with hopes of managing live events and later moving into studio work or running a venue.

Having their kids attend college close to home is a huge plus for mom and dad, Leslie and Chris Peveto. But they “stayed out of it and let them make their own decisions,” and it turns out, “MTSU is just a good fit.”

McPhee gave the quads $500 scholarships. Tanner Peveto’s name was drawn for another $1,000, along with eight others who took home a combined total of $12,000 in scholarships at the evening student reception.

During the luncheon, Franklin area school counselors and community college advisors were provided with information to share with their students, along with $65,000 in scholarships.

MTSU has also been a good fit for many students from Harpeth High School in Kingston Springs, counselor Mike Parsley said.

“MTSU offers a variety of different majors, and the scholarships are important for our school because we’re able to designate that money for students in need,” said Parsley, whose school took back $2,500 in scholarship funds to disperse.

Back home at MTSU

The penultimate True Blue Tour stop was back on campus Tuesday, again drawing a large, enthusiastic home crowd.

“MTSU feels like home to many of them, and because of that, their ability to transition into a four-year university is more seamless. They feel they can still have the support of the high school they came from,” said MTSU alumna Hope Bakari, La Vergne High School assistant principal and head of Motlow State Community College dual enrollment, “and I think that’s in part because of the relationship MTSU has with the community.”

With the early college program La Vergne High and Rutherford County Schools have in partnership with Motlow Community College, where students earn a high school diploma as well as an associate degree or two years of college coursework, MTSU is the top transfer school for many students across the state.

“Many of our early college students finish their bachelor’s degree in two years, and then they’re able to move on to pursue graduate degrees, often at MTSU,” said Bakari, who attended the counselors’ luncheon.

Scholarships second to none

Guaranteed scholarships available to incoming freshmen who qualify with grades and ACT scores also make MTSU another top pick for students, Bakari said. Many of her students don’t earn any other scholarship monies aside from those, making MTSU the best choice.

Those guaranteed scholarships, ranging from $3,500 to $8,000, are locked in for qualifying students attending in the 2026-27 academic year who apply by the Dec. 1 deadline. Prospective students can apply by going to https://mtsu.edu/how-to-apply/index.php and following the prompts.

Rutherford County homeschooler Callie Klepper, who attended the MTSU student reception with her family, was informed the morning of the event that she’d received the full-tuition Buchanan Fellowship, the university’s top academic scholarship.

“I was really shocked, but it really opened up the financial opportunities for me and it makes college a lot less scary,” Klepper said. “Originally, I always said I’d go away for college to gain that independence, but recently, I learned I could live at home, I could live on campus, I could live off campus. It really provides that flexibility.”

The news of a full ride better solidified her choice of school, along with the options she has for a degree pathway.

“Recently, I’ve been learning more about the opportunities in the College of Education,” Klepper said, “and here they’re really trying to advance education. They just started a degree where you get elementary education, English as a second language and special education. And I think that would really open the doors up for me to explore different fields and know what I want to do.”

For those who missed one of the 15 True Blue Tour stops in 2025, MTSU will also offer a True Blue Preview visit in 2026 on March 28. To register, go to https://www.mtsu.edu/rsvp.

— Nancy DeGennaro (Nancy.DeGennaro@mtsu.edu)