Health and Physical Education/Fitness at Clarke University

Clarke University's Health and Physical Education program lands squarely in the middle nationally, but that's precisely the problem—median national earnings for PE teachers hover around $30,000, making this one of the lowest-paying bachelor's degrees available. More concerning, Clarke's graduates earn about $3,000 less than the Iowa state median for this field, placing them in the 40th percentile among in-state competitors. When schools like Buena Vista and Simpson are producing graduates who earn $7,000-8,000 more annually in the same Iowa job market, that gap compounds significantly over a career.

The debt load of $27,000 isn't outrageous on its own—it's actually below the national average for education majors—but paired with $31,000 starting salaries, you're looking at nearly a year's gross income in student loans. Most financial advisors recommend keeping total debt below 1.0x first-year earnings, so this ratio of 0.87 is technically manageable, though it will likely mean tight budgets in those early teaching years.

The small sample size here (under 30 graduates) means one or two outliers could significantly skew these numbers. If your student is passionate about teaching PE and committed to staying in Iowa, Clarke could work, but they should understand they're likely accepting below-average earnings for their state. The safer financial bet would be one of the Iowa public universities or higher-performing privates in this data set.