Florida Gulf Coast University Special Education (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Special Education and Teaching
- Public university
- Fort Myers, FL
- About 8 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Florida Gulf Coast University special education graduates earn about what special education graduates earn nationally, $46,866 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $22,931 in federal loans, close to the national median of $26,564. Several Florida programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Florida and national columns are the medians across all special education bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Florida Gulf Coast University graduates earn more than the national figure and about $2,004 more than the Florida median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Florida special education program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Florida 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 17% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $243 a month, or 6.2% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
89% of graduates (16 of 18) were working in Florida one year after graduating. Prices in the Cape Coral area are about 2% above the national average, so a $46,866 salary here buys what about $45,790 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 special education, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Special Education Teachers, Secondary School
$61,510Median pay in Florida. 7,940 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Special Education Teachers, Middle School
$60,440Median pay in Florida. 2,630 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 6,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Interpreters and Translators
$48,930Median pay in Florida. 4,200 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 6,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Special Education Teachers, Preschool
$58,240Median pay in Florida. 1,370 people work in this job in Florida. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 2,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Florida Gulf Coast University
Special Education ranks 12th of 34 bachelor's programs at Florida Gulf Coast University by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($70,964), Civil Engineering ($64,411), and Biomedical Engineering ($62,972).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $46,866 one year after graduating and $55,014 five years after. The median across special education bachelor's programs in Florida is $48,147.
The median federal loan balance is $22,931, which ranks 4th lowest of 5 special education bachelor's programs in Florida. That works out to about $243 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 49% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 58%.
Most do. 89% (16 of 18) were working in Florida 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 Florida 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 special 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