Parker University Massage Therapy (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Somatic Bodywork and Related Therapeutic Services
- Private nonprofit university
- Dallas, TX
- About 48 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Parker University massage therapy graduates earn more than graduates of most massage therapy programs nationally, $32,172 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $10,964 in federal loans, more than at 80% of massage therapy programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying massage therapy programs 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 massage therapy certificate programs that report the figure.
Debt and first-year pay at every Texas massage therapy 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.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $116 a month, or 4.3% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
91% of graduates (31 of 34) were working in Texas one year after graduating. Prices in the Dallas area are about 3% above the national average, so a $32,172 salary here buys what about $31,208 buys in a typical US city.
The median Texas massage therapist earns $59,370, compared with a national median of $58,450. After adjusting for Texas prices, that pay is worth about $61,170, which puts Texas slightly ahead.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to massage therapy, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Massage Therapists
$59,370Median pay in Texas. 8,630 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 15% from 2025 to 2035, with about 20,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
About Parker University
Massage Therapy is the only certificate program at Parker University that reports first-year earnings.
Other massage therapy certificate programs near Dallas
Common questions
The median graduate earns $32,172 one year after graduating. Massage therapists in the Dallas metro area earn a median of $59,010 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $10,964, which ranks 6th lowest of 6 massage therapy certificate programs in Texas. That works out to about $116 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 34% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 41%.
Most do. 91% (31 of 34) 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 massage therapy 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