Athens State Teacher Education (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods
- Public university
- Athens, AL
- About 127 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Athens State teacher education graduates earn about what teacher education graduates earn nationally, $40,948 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $23,581 in federal loans, close to the national median of $26,075. Several Alabama programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Alabama and national columns are the medians across all teacher education bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Athens State graduates earn about the national figure but about $1,683 less than the Alabama median. Several Alabama programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Alabama teacher education program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Alabama medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 11% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $3,338 less in their first year than other graduates. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $250 a month, or 7.3% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual. Separately, 21 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $12,285.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
94% of graduates (152 of 162) were working in Alabama one year after graduating. Prices in the Huntsville area are about 7% below the national average, so a $40,948 salary here buys what about $43,996 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to teacher education, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education
$61,380Median pay in Alabama. 22,030 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 87,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
$61,990Median pay in Alabama. 15,880 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 63,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
$61,770Median pay in Alabama. 10,000 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 38,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education
$28,310Median pay in Alabama. 7,910 people work in this job in Alabama. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 66,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: associate's degree.
About Athens State
Teacher Education ranks 10th of 15 bachelor's programs at Athens State by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer and Information Science ($78,435), Other Business ($63,754), and Mathematics ($57,584).
Other teacher education bachelor's programs near Athens
Common questions
The median graduate earns $40,948 one year after graduating and $45,657 five years after. The median across teacher education bachelor's programs in Alabama is $42,529.
The median federal loan balance is $23,581, which ranks 2nd lowest of 13 teacher education bachelor's programs in Alabama. That works out to about $250 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 58% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 61%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Alabama programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 94% (152 of 162) were working in Alabama one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Alabama comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the teacher education program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024