Is a Special Education and Teaching degree worth it?
Across 181 schools, graduates of Special Education and Teaching earn a median $49,848 five years out on $24,621 of debt — most often working as Special Education Teachers, Secondary School. Every figure is a real, published federal number.
Median 5-yr pay
$49,848
Median debt
$24,621
Years to pay off
4.8
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
40%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
-0.4%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
6.7%
$53,508 vs $49,909
Net price
$18,212/yr
Debt-test failures
7%
of programs
'Real' premium
−$10,060
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Special Education and Teaching in full →Data: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, O*NET, AI-exposure measures (Eloundou/AIOE), Zillow. Earnings reflect federally-aided graduates; see the full story for methodology and limitations.