Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions at CUNY Lehman College

CUNY Lehman College's rehabilitation program delivers exactly what you'd expect from a CUNY school: extremely low debt paired with modest but stable earnings. With just $7,404 in typical debt and first-year earnings of $36,811, graduates face one of the most manageable debt loads in the field—only 5% of programs nationwide have lower debt. That 0.20 debt-to-earnings ratio means a graduate could theoretically pay off the entire debt in under three months of gross income.

The tradeoff is that earnings lag behind other New York programs, sitting at the 40th percentile statewide when the state median is $39,739. Top performers like CUNY York ($57,806) and D'Youville ($50,473) earn substantially more, though likely with higher debt loads. The program performs slightly better against national benchmarks (56th percentile), where the median is just $35,966, but that's small consolation if your child plans to work in the higher-cost New York market.

For families prioritizing financial safety—especially the 61% of Lehman students receiving Pell grants—this represents a low-risk path into rehabilitation professions. Your child graduates with minimal debt and enters a helping profession with steady employment prospects. Just understand they're likely starting $3,000-15,000 below peers from other New York programs, a gap that may persist throughout their career. If they can transfer to a higher-earning program without taking on significantly more debt, that's worth exploring.