Which Alabama teacher education program has the lowest debt?

Auburn University reports the lowest median federal debt, $22,250, with first-year pay of $42,878.

How much do teacher education graduates earn in Alabama?

The median across 13 Alabama teacher education bachelor's programs is $42,529 in the first year after graduating and $47,340 five years after.

How many teacher education bachelor's programs are in Alabama?

13 Alabama programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 13 of them also report federal debt.

Teacher Education (Bachelor's) Programs in Alabama, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

13 programs report first-year pay
13 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Alabama teacher education bachelor's program pays its graduates $42,529 in their first year, $574 more than the national median. Samford University reports the highest first-year pay ($44,644), and Auburn University the lowest median debt ($22,250).

Median first-year pay$42,529National $41,955

Median pay after 5 years$47,340National $46,679

Median federal debt$25,114National $26,075

Debt-to-earnings61%National 61%

All 13 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Samford UniversityBirmingham · private nonprofit	$44,644	$47,284	$24,250	54%
2	University of AlabamaTuscaloosa · public	$44,025	$48,985	$26,875	61%
3	UABBirmingham · public	$42,981	$47,772	$31,000	72%
4	Auburn UniversityAuburn · public	$42,878	$46,730	$22,250	52%
5	Troy UniversityTroy · public	$42,788	$46,496	$25,000	58%
6	University of MobileMobile · private nonprofit	$42,701	Not reported	$30,750	72%
7	University of North AlabamaFlorence · public	$42,529	$48,459	$25,000	59%
8	University of MontevalloMontevallo · public	$41,692	$49,041	$24,750	59%
9	Jacksonville StateJacksonville · public	$41,384	$45,498	$25,114	61%
10	University of South AlabamaMobile · public	$41,105	$47,395	$26,000	63%
11	Auburn University at MontgomeryMontgomery · public	$41,081	$46,873	$30,750	75%
12	Athens StateAthens · public	$40,948	$45,657	$23,581	58%
13	Alabama StateMontgomery · public	$39,444	$46,679	$34,750	88%

Debt and first-year pay at every Alabama teacher education program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Alabama medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 13 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

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

$61,380

Median pay in Alabama. 22,030 people work in this job in Alabama. 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.

Bottom 10%: $47,750Top 10%: $73,950

Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education

$61,990

Median pay in Alabama. 15,880 people work in this job in Alabama. 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.

Bottom 10%: $48,190Top 10%: $76,300

Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education

$61,770

Median pay in Alabama. 10,000 people work in this job in Alabama. 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.

Bottom 10%: $48,320Top 10%: $74,090

Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education

$28,310

Median pay in Alabama. 7,910 people work in this job in Alabama. 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.

Bottom 10%: $21,150Top 10%: $47,350

Common questions

Samford University in Birmingham reports the highest median first-year pay, $44,644. Its median federal debt is $24,250.

Teacher Education (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked655 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
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 Alabama rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the teacher education bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

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
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024