Which Michigan special education program has the lowest debt?

Spring Arbor University reports the lowest median federal debt, $29,750, with first-year pay of $41,324.

How much do special education graduates earn in Michigan?

The median across 8 Michigan special education bachelor's programs is $45,340 in the first year after graduating and $50,739 five years after.

How many special education bachelor's programs are in Michigan?

8 Michigan programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 7 of them also report federal debt.

Special Education (Bachelor's) Programs in Michigan, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

8 programs report first-year pay
7 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Special Education and Teaching

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Michigan special education bachelor's program pays its graduates $45,340 in their first year, $1,145 more than the national median. Grand Valley State reports the highest first-year pay ($49,494), and Spring Arbor University the lowest median debt ($29,750).

Median first-year pay$45,340National $44,195

Median pay after 5 years$50,739National $49,900

Median federal debt$30,675National $26,564

Debt-to-earnings69%National 58%

All 8 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	Grand Valley StateAllendale · public	$49,494	Not reported	$30,350	61%
2	Hope CollegeHolland · private nonprofit	$48,630	$50,640	Not reported	Not reported
3	Western Michigan UniversityKalamazoo · public	$47,868	$49,952	$31,000	65%
4	Central Michigan UniversityMount Pleasant · public	$46,522	$50,739	$31,000	67%
5	Wayne StateDetroit · public	$44,157	$51,383	$43,500	99%
6	Eastern Michigan UniversityYpsilanti · public	$43,777	$51,197	$31,000	71%
7	Saginaw Valley StateUniversity Center · public	$43,191	$50,545	$29,873	69%
8	Spring Arbor UniversitySpring Arbor · private nonprofit	$41,324	Not reported	$29,750	72%

Hope College reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay. One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Michigan special education program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 7 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 special education, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Special Education Teachers, Secondary School

$78,050

Median pay in Michigan. 2,570 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $49,710Top 10%: $103,210

Special Education Teachers, Middle School

$76,040

Median pay in Michigan. 1,410 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 6,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $46,790Top 10%: $93,350

Interpreters and Translators

$45,310

Median pay in Michigan. 940 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 6,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $35,990Top 10%: $88,630

Special Education Teachers, Preschool

$75,860

Median pay in Michigan. 430 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 2,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $47,050Top 10%: $103,290

Common questions

Grand Valley State in Allendale reports the highest median first-year pay, $49,494. Its median federal debt is $30,350.

Special Education (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked166 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 Michigan rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the special 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