This college, recently gone university, vacillates financially and has a hard time keeping quality faculty. Tusculum University is located in small-town America (Greeneville, TN), a city that struggles both financially and industrially and too often depends on the philanthropy of too few, making it hard to get ahead. Up until a few years ago, the then college ran a semester formatted "block schedule", which allowed students to complete a 4 hour class (number of credits most courses were "worth") in literally 18 school days. As much as this was an appeal to incoming students, it proved to be a difficult format for the average student. Because of its whirlwind format, the quality of learning was questionable. Some would say that when Tusculum changed to a block system, quality of education and scholarship gave way to shear numbers in order to stay afloat financially. In fact, football recruits grew exponentially to assist with the school's financial needs. As many as 4 - 6 football recruits competed for a single position on the team. When compared to other colleges and universities, the number of football recruits was 2 to 3 times higher than most. Students also complained, and probably still do, about the lack of "things to do" both on and off campus. The retention rate numbers are a bit misleading in the published totals because they include both traditional, residential students and mainly off-campus, adult program students. For the most part, the traditional, residential students fall behind the adult programs, ranging from 50 - 60 percent retention (best guess based on what statistics are reported) for first time freshman depending on the year over the last 10 - 15 years. If you are interested in a mediocre education in a beautiful rural setting, Tusculum is for you.