Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods at Baldwin Wallace University

Baldwin Wallace's teaching program occupies an interesting middle ground: while it ranks in just the 23rd percentile nationally, it actually performs better than 60% of Ohio programs. That state comparison matters because most teaching graduates work locally, and at $37,649 starting, these graduates earn more than the typical Ohio education major ($35,926) while carrying similar debt loads. The $27,000 in median debt translates to manageable monthly payments on a teacher's salary, with a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.72 that won't overwhelm a first-year budget.

The challenge here is the minimal earnings growth—just $900 over four years. Teaching salaries follow set schedules, so this flat trajectory isn't unique to Baldwin Wallace, but it does mean the financial picture at graduation is essentially the financial picture long-term. Compared to Ohio's top performers like Ohio Dominican ($42,513) or Capital University ($42,094), graduates here start about $5,000 behind annually, a gap that compounds significantly over a career.

For families committed to teaching careers in Ohio, this program won't derail finances, but it's not maximizing earning potential either. If your child has options at Bowling Green or Cincinnati—both similarly priced public universities—those programs deliver meaningfully higher returns. Baldwin Wallace works if the fit feels right, but purely from a financial standpoint, it's mid-tier performance at a private school price point.