Which Pennsylvania subject-area teacher education program has the lowest debt?

Penn State reports the lowest median federal debt, $26,000, with first-year pay of $50,006.

How much do subject-area teacher education graduates earn in Pennsylvania?

The median across 13 Pennsylvania subject-area teacher education bachelor's programs is $46,019 in the first year after graduating and $53,579 five years after.

How many subject-area teacher education bachelor's programs are in Pennsylvania?

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

Subject-Area Teacher Education (Bachelor's) Programs in Pennsylvania, 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 Subject Areas

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Pennsylvania subject-area teacher education bachelor's program pays its graduates $46,019 in their first year, $2,777 more than the national median. Elizabethtown College reports the highest first-year pay ($50,918), and Penn State the lowest median debt ($26,000).

Median first-year pay$46,019National $43,242

Median pay after 5 years$53,579National $50,239

Median federal debt$27,000National $26,269

Debt-to-earnings58%National 60%

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	Elizabethtown CollegeElizabethtown · private nonprofit	$50,918	Not reported	$27,000	53%
2	Messiah UniversityMechanicsburg · private nonprofit	$50,825	$50,981	$27,000	53%
3	Penn StateUniversity Park · public	$50,006	$53,731	$26,000	52%
4	Lebanon Valley CollegeAnnville · private nonprofit	$49,263	$48,541	$27,000	55%
5	York College of PennsylvaniaYork · private nonprofit	$48,624	Not reported	$27,000	56%
6	Moravian UniversityBethlehem · private nonprofit	$46,600	Not reported	$27,000	58%
7	Temple UniversityPhiladelphia · public	$46,019	$53,579	$26,000	56%
8	Duquesne UniversityPittsburgh · private nonprofit	$45,890	$55,424	$27,000	59%
9	East Stroudsburg University of PennsylvaniaEast Stroudsburg · public	$42,566	$54,180	$27,000	63%
10	Marywood UniversityScranton · private nonprofit	$41,848	$53,054	$27,000	65%
11	Robert Morris UniversityMoon Township · private nonprofit	$36,936	$47,182	$27,000	73%
12	Kutztown University of PennsylvaniaKutztown · public	$36,800	$54,421	$27,000	73%
13	University of PittsburghPittsburgh · public	$25,599	$63,142	$26,176	102%

Debt and first-year pay at every Pennsylvania subject-area teacher education program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Pennsylvania 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 subject-area teacher education, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education

$77,060

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 48,370 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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%: $51,990Top 10%: $99,630

Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education

$78,800

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 52,240 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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%: $51,440Top 10%: $102,360

Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education

$77,930

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 22,720 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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%: $48,610Top 10%: $105,330

Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors

$45,250

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 11,580 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 68,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.

Bottom 10%: $27,780Top 10%: $67,450

Common questions

Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown reports the highest median first-year pay, $50,918. Its median federal debt is $27,000.

Subject-Area Teacher Education (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked341 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 Pennsylvania rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the subject-area 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