Palo Alto College Teacher Education (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods
- Public college
- San Antonio, TX
- About 81 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Palo Alto College teacher education graduates earn more than graduates of most teacher education programs nationally, $29,062 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $9,430 in federal loans, less than at 80% of teacher education programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying teacher education degrees in Texas.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Texas and national columns are the medians across all teacher education associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Palo Alto College graduates earn more than the national figure and about the same as the Texas median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Texas teacher education program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Texas 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 55% 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 $100 a month, or 4.1% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
100% of graduates (25 of 25) were working in Texas one year after graduating. Prices in the San Antonio area are about 5% below the national average, so a $29,062 salary here buys what about $30,683 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
$62,760Median pay in Texas. 116,260 people work in this job in Texas. 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
$63,590Median pay in Texas. 111,660 people work in this job in Texas. 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
$63,390Median pay in Texas. 80,160 people work in this job in Texas. 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
$33,860Median pay in Texas. 41,200 people work in this job in Texas. 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 Palo Alto College
Teacher Education is the only associate's program at Palo Alto College that reports first-year earnings.
Other teacher education associate's programs near San Antonio
Common questions
The median graduate earns $29,062 one year after graduating and $44,917 five years after. The median across teacher education associate's programs in Texas is $21,184.
The median federal loan balance is $9,430, which ranks 6th lowest of 13 teacher education associate's programs in Texas. That works out to about $100 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 32% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 51%.
Most do. 100% (25 of 25) were working in Texas 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 Texas 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