Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods at East Texas Baptist University

East Texas Baptist graduates earn above both the national median ($41,809) and roughly match Texas's median ($44,023) for education degrees—landing in the 60th percentile statewide. That's respectable performance in a field where starting salaries cluster tightly, though graduates aren't reaching the $50,000+ range that several other Texas private universities achieve. The $26,087 debt load aligns with national norms and translates to manageable monthly payments on a teacher's salary.

The troubling pattern here is the earnings decline: graduates drop from $44,547 in year one to $38,935 by year four. This backward trajectory is unusual even in teaching, where salaries typically climb with experience and additional certifications. With fewer than 30 graduates in this dataset, it's possible we're seeing statistical noise rather than a genuine career ceiling—perhaps a few graduates left teaching or moved to lower-paying districts. But it's a red flag worth investigating directly with the school about career support and retention rates.

For parents comfortable with the small-sample uncertainty, this program gets graduates into teaching jobs at competitive Texas starting salaries with reasonable debt. The key question is what happens after that first year—and whether the university can explain that earnings dip convincingly.