Special Education and Teaching at Ohio University-Lancaster Campus

With only a handful of graduates in the data, these numbers should be treated cautiously, but they reveal something important about Ohio's special education teaching market: starting salaries cluster tightly across institutions. Ohio University-Lancaster's graduates earn exactly the state median at $41,362, placing them ahead of 60% of Ohio programs—a respectable middle-of-the-pack position. Even top programs like Ohio State and Dayton only earn 9-10% more, suggesting that teacher salary scales compress differences between schools.

The $26,950 debt load is manageable for a teaching career, with graduates owing about 8 months of their first-year salary. Earnings tick up modestly to $42,847 by year four, typical for early-career teachers moving through standard pay steps. The real question is whether this regional campus offers the clinical placements and licensure support you'd get at larger programs—especially since you're paying similar debt for slightly lower earnings than you'd see at Ohio State's main campus.

For families seeking an affordable path to special education teaching in central Ohio, this program delivers reasonable value. Just verify the small cohort size reflects program capacity rather than retention issues, and confirm graduates are successfully obtaining their teaching licenses.