Which Nebraska teacher education program has the lowest debt?

Wayne State College reports the lowest median federal debt, $19,500, with first-year pay of $41,322.

How much do teacher education graduates earn in Nebraska?

The median across 9 Nebraska teacher education bachelor's programs is $41,322 in the first year after graduating and $46,597 five years after.

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

9 Nebraska programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 9 of them also report federal debt.

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

9 programs report first-year pay
9 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 Nebraska teacher education bachelor's program pays its graduates $41,322 in their first year, $633 less than the national median. University of Nebraska-Lincoln reports the highest first-year pay ($44,011), and Wayne State College the lowest median debt ($19,500).

Median first-year pay$41,322National $41,955

Median pay after 5 years$46,597National $46,679

Median federal debt$25,059National $26,075

Debt-to-earnings60%National 61%

All 9 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	University of Nebraska-LincolnLincoln · public	$44,011	$47,126	$23,128	53%
2	Concordia University-NebraskaSeward · private nonprofit	$43,067	$47,488	$27,000	63%
3	Nebraska Wesleyan UniversityLincoln · private nonprofit	$42,988	Not reported	$27,000	63%
4	University of Nebraska at OmahaOmaha · public	$41,326	$46,519	$24,000	58%
5	Wayne State CollegeWayne · public	$41,322	$46,674	$19,500	47%
6	Hastings CollegeHastings · private nonprofit	$40,406	$47,644	$27,000	67%
7	Chadron State CollegeChadron · public	$40,320	$46,375	$21,750	54%
8	University of Nebraska at KearneyKearney · public	$38,853	$44,982	$23,363	60%
9	Peru State CollegePeru · public	$37,072	$41,483	$26,117	70%

One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

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

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 9 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Wayne State College$19,500
Chadron State College$21,750
University of Nebraska-Lincoln$23,128
University of Nebraska at Kearney$23,363
University of Nebraska at Omaha$24,000

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

$62,380

Median pay in Nebraska. 8,710 people work in this job in Nebraska. 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%: $46,700Top 10%: $78,130

Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education

$63,450

Median pay in Nebraska. 7,170 people work in this job in Nebraska. 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%: $46,870Top 10%: $78,510

Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education

$62,510

Median pay in Nebraska. 4,150 people work in this job in Nebraska. 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%: $38,790Top 10%: $78,290

Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education

$47,040

Median pay in Nebraska. 1,630 people work in this job in Nebraska. 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%: $31,620Top 10%: $73,620

Common questions

University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Lincoln reports the highest median first-year pay, $44,011. Its median federal debt is $23,128.

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 Nebraska 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