Buena Vista University Teacher Education (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods
- Private nonprofit university
- Storm Lake, IA
- About 83 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Buena Vista University teacher education graduates earn about what teacher education graduates earn nationally, $42,834 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $41,996 in federal loans, more than at 99% of teacher education programs in the country. Several Iowa programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Iowa and national columns are the medians across all teacher education bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Buena Vista University graduates earn less than the national figure and about $1,520 less than the Iowa median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Iowa teacher education program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Iowa 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 5% 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 $1,434 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 $445 a month, or 12.5% 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 $8,000.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
91% of graduates (81 of 89) were working in Iowa one year after graduating. Prices in the parts of Iowa outside metro areas are about 16% below the national average, so a $42,834 salary here buys what about $50,946 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
$60,580Median pay in Iowa. 17,300 people work in this job in Iowa. 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
$61,200Median pay in Iowa. 12,310 people work in this job in Iowa. 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
$60,450Median pay in Iowa. 6,270 people work in this job in Iowa. 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
$33,830Median pay in Iowa. 5,910 people work in this job in Iowa. 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 Buena Vista University
Teacher Education ranks 8th of 13 bachelor's programs at Buena Vista University by first-year earnings. The top three are Accounting ($53,280), Finance ($52,226), and Entrepreneurship ($49,099).
Other teacher education bachelor's programs near Storm Lake
Common questions
The median graduate earns $42,834 one year after graduating and $44,936 five years after. The median across teacher education bachelor's programs in Iowa is $42,758.
The median federal loan balance is $41,996, which ranks 22nd lowest of 22 teacher education bachelor's programs in Iowa. That works out to about $445 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 98% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 61%. Compare the cost with other Iowa programs before deciding.
Most do. 91% (81 of 89) were working in Iowa 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 Iowa 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