Education at Cabrini University

Cabrini's education program starts graduates at just $27,998—landing in the bottom 5th percentile nationally and the bottom quarter of Pennsylvania programs. Even within a state where education degrees already lag behind most other majors, this program significantly underperforms. For context, Penn State and Wilkes launch their education graduates at around $45,000, nearly $18,000 more than Cabrini.

The debt load of $27,000 nearly equals first-year earnings, creating immediate financial strain when teachers typically face living expenses in the Philadelphia suburbs. While earnings do climb to $37,516 by year four (a respectable 34% jump), that's still $8,000 below what the median Pennsylvania education graduate earns right out of college. The small sample size—fewer than 30 graduates tracked—means these numbers could shift with more data, but the pattern is troubling enough to warrant serious consideration of alternatives.

If your child is set on teaching and Cabrini for personal reasons, understand they'll likely need either family support or extreme budgeting in those critical first years. Otherwise, Pennsylvania offers multiple education programs where graduates start with both higher earnings and similar or lower debt, fundamentally changing the financial equation of those early-career years.