Tolkien seems to be creeping into the university syllabus a bit more of late. Just two examples. I live in Houston and Jane Chance teaches at Rice University. (She has written several books on Tolkien.) She is a specialist in medieval lit and normally teaches LotR every other spring. Enrollment is said to be strong. I assume similar courses exist at other colleges where there are professors who have written about LotR or Tolkien.
This summer, we were searching for a "pre-college" program for a member of our family. This is where a high school student goes to a college campus and spends anywhere from 2-6 weeks in classes taught by university professors. That way, the student gets a better idea what college classes are like and also campus life. Generally, the student takes no more than one or two classes. I noticed several schools with classes focusing on Tolkien. The best one seemed to be at the University of Chicago. The course sounded fascinating. Unfortunately, I don't think I can pass myself off as a pre-college student so I am unlikely to get in!
In both the situations above, the classes are elective: students enroll because they have a particular interest in the subject. I think this is far preferable to making Tolkien "required reading" in required classes. That's where you are apt to turn folk off.
There are ways to incorporate Tolkien in classes like this. Quite often, there may be a paper or presentation where students select books from a particular list. If the book is presented as an option, but not a requirement, I think the results will be far more positive. This happened at my daughter's middle school in 5th grade. She was able to read The Hobbit as an AR (Advanced Reading) book, which she did. She now has the option of any of the three volumes of LotR as well. My son's high school is considering a Tolkien course as part of winterim (a two-week period after Christmas break when the regular curriculum is dropped and all students are given the chance to focus on three elective courses.) So, bit by bit, Tolkien is creeping into the curriculum, although often through the back door and generally not part of basic, required classes.