Which Minnesota teacher education program has the lowest debt?

University of Minnesota-Duluth reports the lowest median federal debt, $20,000, with first-year pay of $43,014.

How much do teacher education graduates earn in Minnesota?

The median across 24 Minnesota teacher education bachelor's programs is $42,495 in the first year after graduating and $46,736 five years after.

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

24 Minnesota programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 22 of them also report federal debt.

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

24 programs report first-year pay
22 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 Minnesota teacher education bachelor's program pays its graduates $42,495 in their first year, $540 more than the national median. Martin Luther College reports the highest first-year pay ($46,706), and University of Minnesota-Duluth the lowest median debt ($20,000).

Median first-year pay$42,495National $41,955

Median pay after 5 years$46,736National $46,679

Median federal debt$26,735National $26,075

Debt-to-earnings62%National 61%

All 24 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	Martin Luther CollegeNew Ulm · private nonprofit	$46,706	$43,115	$21,500	46%
2	University of Minnesota-MorrisMorris · public	$46,414	$46,783	$24,767	53%
3	Bethel University (Minnesota)Saint Paul · private nonprofit	$45,361	$47,172	$26,000	57%
4	Concordia College at MoorheadMoorhead · private nonprofit	$44,195	$46,688	$27,000	61%
5	Minnesota State MankatoMankato · public	$44,171	$45,447	$27,000	61%
6	Gustavus Adolphus CollegeSaint Peter · private nonprofit	$44,117	$46,637	$27,000	61%
7	College of Saint BenedictSaint Joseph · private nonprofit	$43,466	$44,930	$27,000	62%
8	Minnesota State MoorheadMoorhead · public	$43,245	$45,886	$27,000	62%
9	University of Minnesota-DuluthDuluth · public	$43,014	$49,528	$20,000	46%
10	Bemidji StateBemidji · public	$42,841	$43,816	$27,757	65%
11	University of St Thomas (Minnesota)Saint Paul · private nonprofit	$42,819	$49,710	$27,000	63%
12	Winona StateWinona · public	$42,519	$49,020	$26,470	62%
13	Metropolitan State UniversitySaint Paul · public	$42,471	$47,590	$28,279	67%
14	Concordia University-Saint PaulSaint Paul · private nonprofit	$41,456	$46,919	$25,500	62%
15	Southwest Minnesota StateMarshall · public	$41,333	$47,061	$27,000	65%
16	North Central UniversityMinneapolis · private nonprofit	$40,927	$50,280	$26,400	65%
17	Saint Cloud StateSaint Cloud · public	$40,580	$45,546	$25,449	63%
18	College of Saint ScholasticaDuluth · private nonprofit	$40,320	Not reported	$22,495	56%
19	University of Northwestern-St PaulSaint Paul · private nonprofit	$39,621	$41,671	$25,250	64%
20	Augsburg UniversityMinneapolis · private nonprofit	$39,536	$42,173	$31,000	78%
21	Walden UniversityMinneapolis · private for-profit	$36,427	Not reported	$47,261	130%
22	Crown CollegeSaint Bonifacius · private nonprofit	$35,598	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
23	St Catherine UniversitySaint Paul · private nonprofit	$32,946	$44,865	Not reported	Not reported
24	University of MinnesotaMinneapolis · public	$20,608	$56,388	$21,598	105%

Crown College and St Catherine University report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

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

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 22 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

$76,350

Median pay in Minnesota. 26,640 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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%: $48,870Top 10%: $100,880

Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education

$76,460

Median pay in Minnesota. 16,020 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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%: $49,160Top 10%: $121,220

Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education

$62,640

Median pay in Minnesota. 8,890 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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%: $47,560Top 10%: $99,340

Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education

$43,430

Median pay in Minnesota. 10,320 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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%: $36,060Top 10%: $61,190

Common questions

Martin Luther College in New Ulm reports the highest median first-year pay, $46,706. Its median federal debt is $21,500.

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 Minnesota 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