Which Ohio teacher education program has the lowest debt?

Ohio University reports the lowest median federal debt, $23,050, with first-year pay of $34,983.

How much do teacher education graduates earn in Ohio?

The median across 31 Ohio teacher education bachelor's programs is $36,483 in the first year after graduating and $43,556 five years after.

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

31 Ohio programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 29 of them also report federal debt.

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

31 programs report first-year pay
29 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 Ohio teacher education bachelor's program pays its graduates $36,483 in their first year, $5,472 less than the national median. Ohio Dominican University reports the highest first-year pay ($42,513), and Ohio University the lowest median debt ($23,050).

Median first-year pay$36,483National $41,955

Median pay after 5 years$43,556National $46,679

Median federal debt$27,000National $26,075

Debt-to-earnings71%National 61%

All 31 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	Ohio Dominican UniversityColumbus · private nonprofit	$42,513	$46,992	$29,000	68%
2	Capital UniversityColumbus · private nonprofit	$42,094	$47,168	$27,000	64%
3	Bowling Green StateBowling Green · public	$40,271	$44,761	$26,000	65%
4	Mount St. Joseph UniversityCincinnati · private nonprofit	$39,660	$42,111	$28,343	71%
5	University of CincinnatiCincinnati · public	$39,607	$47,072	$27,000	68%
6	Xavier UniversityCincinnati · private nonprofit	$39,217	$45,957	$27,000	69%
7	Miami UniversityOxford · public	$39,155	$47,204	$23,750	61%
8	Otterbein UniversityWesterville · private nonprofit	$38,651	$44,982	$26,000	67%
9	University of ToledoToledo · public	$38,625	$44,082	$24,100	62%
10	University of DaytonDayton · private nonprofit	$38,492	$48,689	$25,483	66%
11	University of Mount UnionAlliance · private nonprofit	$38,277	$39,296	$27,000	71%
12	Baldwin Wallace UniversityBerea · private nonprofit	$37,649	$41,659	$27,000	72%
13	Malone UniversityCanton · private nonprofit	$37,284	$39,927	Not reported	Not reported
14	Cedarville UniversityCedarville · private nonprofit	$37,102	$40,365	$24,000	65%
15	Wittenberg UniversitySpringfield · private nonprofit	$36,752	$49,293	$27,000	73%
16	Ohio StateColumbus · public	$36,483	$44,875	$25,432	70%
17	Wright StateDayton · public	$36,332	$42,949	$27,000	74%
18	Muskingum UniversityNew Concord · private nonprofit	$35,861	$41,733	$25,215	70%
19	University of AkronAkron · public	$35,368	$41,433	$27,000	76%
20	Mount Vernon Nazarene UniversityMount Vernon · private nonprofit	$35,268	$45,142	$27,000	77%
21	Franciscan University of SteubenvilleSteubenville · private nonprofit	$35,050	$34,640	$27,000	77%
22	Ohio UniversityAthens · public	$34,983	$43,853	$23,050	66%
23	Walsh UniversityNorth Canton · private nonprofit	$34,355	$38,041	$27,000	79%
24	Youngstown StateYoungstown · public	$33,735	$40,454	$29,500	87%
25	University of FindlayFindlay · private nonprofit	$33,154	$43,556	$23,125	70%
26	Lourdes UniversitySylvania · private nonprofit	$33,041	$44,122	$31,000	94%
27	Kent StateKent · public	$33,040	$40,115	$26,000	79%
28	Cleveland StateCleveland · public	$32,823	$43,995	$27,000	82%
29	University of Rio GrandeRio Grande · private nonprofit	$29,342	$46,004	Not reported	Not reported
30	Ashland UniversityAshland · private nonprofit	$28,468	$42,971	$27,000	95%
31	Defiance CollegeDefiance · private nonprofit	$25,798	Not reported	$29,000	112%

Malone University and University of Rio Grande report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay. One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

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

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 29 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

$77,370

Median pay in Ohio. 47,870 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $47,680Top 10%: $99,210

Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education

$78,800

Median pay in Ohio. 49,540 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $48,370Top 10%: $103,150

Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education

$77,090

Median pay in Ohio. 30,450 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $46,040Top 10%: $101,940

Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education

$35,180

Median pay in Ohio. 19,840 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $27,260Top 10%: $48,240

Common questions

Ohio Dominican University in Columbus reports the highest median first-year pay, $42,513. Its median federal debt is $29,000.

Teacher Education (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked655 programs by pay and debt Teacher Education (Associate's) programs in Ohio, ranked6 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 Ohio 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