Lee 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
- Cleveland, TN
- About 31 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Lee University teacher education graduates earn about what teacher education graduates earn nationally, $44,397 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $23,832 in federal loans, close to the national median of $26,075. It is one of the higher-paying teacher education degrees in Tennessee.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Tennessee and national columns are the medians across all teacher education bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Lee University graduates earn less than the national figure and about $1,718 less than the Tennessee median. Several Tennessee programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Tennessee teacher education program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Tennessee 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 falls about 7% 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 about the same in their first year as other graduates. At this program, the outcome does not look worse for students with less money.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $253 a month, or 6.8% 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
73% of graduates (46 of 63) were working in Tennessee one year after graduating. Prices in the Cleveland area are about 12% below the national average, so a $44,397 salary here buys what about $50,405 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
$59,980Median pay in Tennessee. 28,240 people work in this job in Tennessee. 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
$61,860Median pay in Tennessee. 21,230 people work in this job in Tennessee. 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
$60,690Median pay in Tennessee. 13,060 people work in this job in Tennessee. 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
$34,280Median pay in Tennessee. 5,420 people work in this job in Tennessee. 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 Lee University
Teacher Education ranks 5th of 17 bachelor's programs at Lee University by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($67,930), Accounting ($53,577), and Liberal Arts and General Studies ($45,678).
Other teacher education bachelor's programs near Cleveland
Common questions
The median graduate earns $44,397 one year after graduating and $41,273 five years after. The median across teacher education bachelor's programs in Tennessee is $40,936.
The median federal loan balance is $23,832, which ranks 9th lowest of 15 teacher education bachelor's programs in Tennessee. That works out to about $253 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 54% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 61%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less.
Most do. 73% (46 of 63) were working in Tennessee 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 Tennessee 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