IU Bloomington Special Education (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Special Education and Teaching
- Public university
- Bloomington, IN
- About 25 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
IU Bloomington special education graduates earn more than graduates of most special education programs nationally, $51,306 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $19,500 in federal loans, less than at 88% of special education programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying special education degrees in Indiana.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Indiana and national columns are the medians across all special education bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, IU Bloomington graduates earn more than the national figure and about $14,784 more than the Indiana median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Indiana special education program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Indiana 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.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $4,745 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 $207 a month, or 4.8% 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.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
67% of graduates (26 of 39) were working in Indiana one year after graduating. Prices in the Bloomington area are about 5% below the national average, so a $51,306 salary here buys what about $53,959 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
$61,130Median pay in Indiana. 2,580 people work in this job in Indiana. 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
$58,900Median pay in Indiana. 1,070 people work in this job in Indiana. 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
$48,140Median pay in Indiana. 1,170 people work in this job in Indiana. 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
$48,680Median pay in Indiana. 380 people work in this job in Indiana. 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 IU Bloomington
Special Education ranks 7th of 43 bachelor's programs at IU Bloomington by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Science ($77,909), Nursing ($71,458), and Business ($71,100).
Other special education bachelor's programs near Bloomington
Common questions
The median graduate earns $51,306 one year after graduating and $59,829 five years after. The median across special education bachelor's programs in Indiana is $45,802.
The median federal loan balance is $19,500, which ranks the lowest of 6 special education bachelor's programs in Indiana. That works out to about $207 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 38% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 58%.
Most do. 67% (26 of 39) were working in Indiana 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 Indiana 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