Northeastern Illinois University Teacher Education (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods
- Public university
- Chicago, IL
- About 98 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Northeastern Illinois University teacher education graduates earn about what teacher education graduates earn nationally, $41,938 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $15,612 in federal loans, less than at 94% of teacher education programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying teacher education degrees in Illinois.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Illinois and national columns are the medians across all teacher education bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Northeastern Illinois University graduates earn more than the national figure and about $11,097 more than the Illinois median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois teacher education program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Illinois 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 39% 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 $166 a month, or 4.7% 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
96% of graduates (50 of 52) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the Chicago area are about 4% above the national average, so a $41,938 salary here buys what about $40,483 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
$75,320Median pay in Illinois. 61,520 people work in this job in Illinois. 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
$79,990Median pay in Illinois. 44,670 people work in this job in Illinois. 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
$76,110Median pay in Illinois. 24,770 people work in this job in Illinois. 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
$40,910Median pay in Illinois. 22,420 people work in this job in Illinois. 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 Northeastern Illinois University
Teacher Education ranks 10th of 22 bachelor's programs at Northeastern Illinois University by first-year earnings. The top three are Subject-Area Teacher Education ($63,615), Computer Science ($62,831), and Accounting ($50,475).
Other teacher education bachelor's programs near Chicago
Common questions
The median graduate earns $41,938 one year after graduating and $58,256 five years after. The median across teacher education bachelor's programs in Illinois is $44,143.
The median federal loan balance is $15,612, which ranks the lowest of 34 teacher education bachelor's programs in Illinois. That works out to about $166 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 37% 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. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Illinois programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 96% (50 of 52) were working in Illinois 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 Illinois 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