Which Pennsylvania teacher education program has the lowest debt?

Geneva College reports the lowest median federal debt, $24,250, with first-year pay of $33,818.

How much do teacher education graduates earn in Pennsylvania?

The median across 40 Pennsylvania teacher education bachelor's programs is $43,743 in the first year after graduating and $48,173 five years after.

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

40 Pennsylvania programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 38 of them also report federal debt.

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

40 programs report first-year pay
38 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 Pennsylvania teacher education bachelor's program pays its graduates $43,743 in their first year, $1,788 more than the national median. Lebanon Valley College reports the highest first-year pay ($51,300), and Geneva College the lowest median debt ($24,250).

Median first-year pay$43,743National $41,955

Median pay after 5 years$48,173National $46,679

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

Debt-to-earnings63%National 61%

All 40 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	Lebanon Valley CollegeAnnville · private nonprofit	$51,300	$47,511	$27,000	53%
2	Elizabethtown CollegeElizabethtown · private nonprofit	$50,725	$53,887	$27,000	53%
3	Messiah UniversityMechanicsburg · private nonprofit	$50,389	$49,379	$27,000	54%
4	Drexel UniversityPhiladelphia · private nonprofit	$50,312	$47,318	$32,375	64%
5	Temple UniversityPhiladelphia · public	$47,825	$53,359	$26,000	54%
6	Gwynedd Mercy UniversityGwynedd Valley · private nonprofit	$47,453	Not reported	$27,000	57%
7	Shippensburg University of PennsylvaniaShippensburg · public	$47,319	$46,546	$26,435	56%
8	DeSales UniversityCenter Valley · private nonprofit	$46,852	$49,144	$27,000	58%
9	Holy Family UniversityPhiladelphia · private nonprofit	$46,555	$54,373	$27,000	58%
10	La Roche UniversityPittsburgh · private nonprofit	$45,954	Not reported	$31,617	69%
11	Wilkes UniversityWilkes-Barre · private nonprofit	$45,853	Not reported	$27,000	59%
12	Penn StateUniversity Park · public	$45,795	$53,634	$26,263	57%
13	Saint Joseph's UniversityPhiladelphia · private nonprofit	$45,296	$55,994	$27,000	60%
14	Millersville University of PennsylvaniaMillersville · public	$45,145	$48,173	$27,000	60%
15	Widener UniversityChester · private nonprofit	$44,840	$55,163	$27,000	60%
16	Kutztown University of PennsylvaniaKutztown · public	$44,793	$50,852	$27,000	60%
17	Susquehanna UniversitySelinsgrove · private nonprofit	$44,685	$55,441	$27,000	60%
18	Gannon UniversityErie · private nonprofit	$44,313	$44,194	Not reported	Not reported
19	Saint Vincent CollegeLatrobe · private nonprofit	$44,278	$48,432	$27,000	61%
20	York College of PennsylvaniaYork · private nonprofit	$44,194	Not reported	$27,000	61%
21	Commonwealth University of PennsylvaniaBloomsburg · public	$43,291	$46,780	$27,000	62%
22	Misericordia UniversityDallas · private nonprofit	$42,793	$46,487	$30,012	70%
23	Waynesburg UniversityWaynesburg · private nonprofit	$42,769	Not reported	$27,000	63%
24	Eastern UniversitySaint Davids · private nonprofit	$42,696	$50,722	$40,160	94%
25	Immaculata UniversityImmaculata · private nonprofit	$42,670	$44,054	$27,000	63%
26	Duquesne UniversityPittsburgh · private nonprofit	$41,502	$48,793	$27,000	65%
27	University of ScrantonScranton · private nonprofit	$41,182	$60,729	$27,000	66%
28	Chestnut Hill CollegePhiladelphia · private nonprofit	$41,129	$49,272	$27,000	66%
29	Marywood UniversityScranton · private nonprofit	$38,598	$43,285	$27,000	70%
30	Pennsylvania Western UniversityCalifornia · public	$38,237	$44,236	$27,000	71%
31	Slippery Rock University of PennsylvaniaSlippery Rock · public	$37,966	$44,923	$27,000	71%
32	University of PittsburghPittsburgh · public	$36,248	$42,137	$27,000	74%
33	East Stroudsburg University of PennsylvaniaEast Stroudsburg · public	$35,557	$51,246	$27,000	76%
34	Point Park UniversityPittsburgh · private nonprofit	$35,540	$46,703	Not reported	Not reported
35	King's CollegeWilkes-Barre · private nonprofit	$35,199	$40,735	$27,000	77%
36	Indiana University of PennsylvaniaIndiana · public	$34,827	Not reported	$29,500	85%
37	Carlow UniversityPittsburgh · private nonprofit	$34,215	$33,935	$27,000	79%
38	Geneva CollegeBeaver Falls · private nonprofit	$33,818	$38,780	$24,250	72%
39	Seton Hill UniversityGreensburg · private nonprofit	$27,056	$43,427	$27,000	100%
40	Lancaster Bible CollegeLancaster · private nonprofit	$24,449	Not reported	$26,775	110%

Gannon University and Point Park University 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 Pennsylvania 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 38 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Geneva College$24,250
Temple University$26,000
Penn State$26,263
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania$26,435
Lancaster Bible College$26,775

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

$77,060

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

Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education

$36,050

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 22,760 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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%: $29,590Top 10%: $46,460

Common questions

Lebanon Valley College in Annville reports the highest median first-year pay, $51,300. Its median federal debt is $27,000.

Teacher Education (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked655 programs by pay and debt Teacher Education (Associate's) programs in Pennsylvania, ranked7 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 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