Wichita State Subject-Area Teacher Education (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas
- Public university
- Wichita, KS
- About 57 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Wichita State subject-area teacher education graduates earn more than graduates of most subject-area teacher education programs nationally, $47,121 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $22,145 in federal loans, less than at 83% of subject-area teacher education programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying subject-area teacher education degrees in Kansas.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Kansas and national columns are the medians across all subject-area teacher education bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Wichita State graduates earn less than the national figure and about $2,212 less than the Kansas median. Several Kansas programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Kansas subject-area teacher education program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Kansas 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 3% 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 $1,494 less in their first year than other graduates. They also borrowed more. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $235 a month, or 6.0% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
93% of graduates (66 of 71) were working in Kansas one year after graduating. Prices in the Wichita area are about 11% below the national average, so a $47,121 salary here buys what about $52,977 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 subject-area teacher education, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education
$56,450Median pay in Kansas. 14,350 people work in this job in Kansas. 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
$59,920Median pay in Kansas. 10,860 people work in this job in Kansas. 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
$60,580Median pay in Kansas. 6,230 people work in this job in Kansas. 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.
Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors
$35,900Median pay in Kansas. 4,510 people work in this job in Kansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 68,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
About Wichita State
Subject-Area Teacher Education ranks 15th of 38 bachelor's programs at Wichita State by first-year earnings. The top three are Electrical Engineering ($77,435), Mechanical Engineering ($68,018), and Computer Engineering ($66,207).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $47,121 one year after graduating and $45,796 five years after. The median across subject-area teacher education bachelor's programs in Kansas is $43,878.
The median federal loan balance is $22,145, which ranks the lowest of 6 subject-area teacher education bachelor's programs in Kansas. That works out to about $235 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 47% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 60%.
Most do. 93% (66 of 71) were working in Kansas 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 Kansas 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 subject-area 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