Tennessee State Teacher Education (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods
- Public university
- Nashville, TN
- About 45 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Tennessee State teacher education graduates earn less than graduates of most teacher education programs nationally, $34,756 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $29,000 in federal loans, more than at 87% of teacher education programs in the country. Several Tennessee programs report higher pay.
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, Tennessee State graduates earn about the national figure and about $2,935 more than the Tennessee median.
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 rises about 32% 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 $307 a month, or 10.6% 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
78% of graduates (60 of 77) were working in Tennessee one year after graduating. Prices in the Nashville area are about 4% below the national average, so a $34,756 salary here buys what about $36,077 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 Tennessee State
Teacher Education ranks 11th of 21 bachelor's programs at Tennessee State by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($65,331), Mechanical Engineering ($58,828), and Accounting ($53,620).
Other teacher education bachelor's programs near Nashville
Common questions
The median graduate earns $34,756 one year after graduating and $45,926 five years after. The median across teacher education bachelor's programs in Tennessee is $40,936.
The median federal loan balance is $29,000, which ranks 15th lowest of 15 teacher education bachelor's programs in Tennessee. That works out to about $307 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 83% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 61%. Compare the cost with other Tennessee programs before deciding.
Most do. 78% (60 of 77) 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