Does a Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instruction Pay Off? Earnings, Debt & Schools

This page shows what graduates with a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction earn four years after graduating, what they typically owe, the schools that report these figures (listed alphabetically), and the occupations linked to this field by the federal CIP-to-SOC crosswalk. It covers 184 reporting units (schools, or groups of campuses that report together) with these figures.

Median earnings, 4 years after graduation

$63,399

All graduates nationally

Middle half of graduates nationally

$51,716–$78,118

25th to 75th percentile

Schools reporting earnings for Curriculum and Instruction graduates

Listed alphabetically to start; MajorPays does not rank schools. Click a column heading to sort; shift-click more headings to sort by several columns as a group. Median earnings four years after graduation, master's degree, for programs with at least 30 graduates measured (119 reporting units; campuses that share one federal school ID report together and appear once). Schools with fewer graduates in the major, or whose figure the Department of Education withholds, are not listed.

School	State	Median earnings, 4 years after	Graduates measured
Angelo State University	TX	$56,774	41
Arizona State University Campus Immersion (reported together with 1 other campus under one federal school ID)	AZ	$71,074	1,365
Arkansas State University	AR	$54,091	316
Ashland University	OH	$63,212	82
Augusta University	GA	$65,017	54
Averett University	VA	$56,695	34
Black Hills State University	SD	$51,881	43
Boston College	MA	$71,427	31
Boston University	MA	$78,782	100
Bowling Green State University-Main Campus	OH	$58,062	49
California State University-Fresno	CA	$86,139	55
California State University-Long Beach	CA	$100,111	47
Capella University	MN	$70,537	65
Caribbean University-Bayamon (reported together with 3 other campuses under one federal school ID)	PR	$38,092	30
Central Michigan University	MI	$60,135	78
Chadron State College	NE	$65,644	46
City University of Seattle	WA	$80,194	114
Columbia College	MO	$45,010	46
Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania	PA	$59,912	36
Concordia University Ann Arbor (reported together with 1 other campus under one federal school ID)	MI	$61,853	36
Concordia University-Chicago	IL	$68,826	174
Concordia University-Irvine	CA	$100,038	269
Concordia University-Nebraska	NE	$62,319	31
Doane University	NE	$57,414	156
Drake University	IA	$62,724	53
East Texas A&M University	TX	$62,644	90
Empire State University	NY	$62,453	42
Emporia State University	KS	$59,568	62
Fitchburg State University	MA	$72,362	121
Florida International University	FL	$66,189	79
Florida State University	FL	$56,672	72
Gannon University	PA	$55,601	67
Gardner-Webb University	NC	$60,926	58
George Mason University	VA	$65,713	472
Georgetown College	KY	$52,708	69
Grand Canyon University	AZ	$58,811	46
Grand Valley State University	MI	$57,952	84
Houston Christian University	TX	$60,834	47
Illinois State University	IL	$61,775	62
LaGrange College	GA	$59,762	30
Lesley University	MA	$66,404	35
Lincoln Memorial University	TN	$52,404	46
Lipscomb University	TN	$59,936	111
McDaniel College	MD	$76,616	58
Michigan State University	MI	$61,650	123
Middle Tennessee State University	TN	$56,781	136
Minnesota State University Moorhead	MN	$65,104	95
Mississippi College	MS	$54,632	35
Missouri Baptist University	MO	$50,691	38
National Louis University	IL	$70,926	179
New Mexico Highlands University	NM	$67,891	35
New Mexico State University-Main Campus	NM	$54,059	59
Nicholls State University	LA	$56,621	43
North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	$59,518	30
Northwest Nazarene University	ID	$56,334	55
Ohio University-Main Campus	OH	$56,614	43
Oklahoma State University-Main Campus	OK	$52,720	31
Olivet Nazarene University	IL	$69,690	254
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus (reported together with 3 other campuses under one federal school ID)	PA	$62,403	135
Peru State College	NE	$57,249	159
Piedmont University	GA	$75,565	189
Plymouth State University	NH	$69,403	31
Portland State University	OR	$76,554	41
Regent University	VA	$60,876	43
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota	MN	$53,444	35
Salem University	WV	$60,185	62
Sam Houston State University	TX	$62,520	90
Southern New Hampshire University	NH	$62,675	137
SUNY Brockport	NY	$53,954	116
Tennessee Technological University	TN	$51,745	92
Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	$58,052	158
The University of Montana	MT	$49,672	52
The University of Texas at Arlington	TX	$64,929	672
The University of Texas at Austin	TX	$63,172	43
The University of Texas at El Paso	TX	$62,807	146
The University of Texas at Tyler	TX	$58,447	54
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	TX	$64,700	64
Thomas University	GA	$70,189	58
Universidad Ana G. Mendez-Cupey Campus	PR	$41,155	36
University at Albany	NY	$66,047	112
University of Cincinnati-Main Campus	OH	$64,542	80
University of Colorado Colorado Springs	CO	$60,531	41
University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus	CO	$67,259	134
University of Connecticut	CT	$59,913	190
University of Denver	CO	$62,426	67
University of Florida	FL	$66,003	37
University of Hawaii at Manoa	HI	$73,195	32
University of Houston	TX	$64,349	61
University of Jamestown	ND	$57,804	33
University of Kansas	KS	$60,341	122
University of Maryland-College Park	MD	$71,793	159
University of Massachusetts-Lowell	MA	$66,277	87
University of Memphis	TN	$56,248	122
University of Missouri-Columbia	MO	$50,116	223
University of Nebraska at Kearney	NE	$60,090	66
University of Nebraska-Lincoln	NE	$53,319	48
University of Nevada-Las Vegas	NV	$67,951	200
University of North Carolina at Greensboro	NC	$59,393	31
University of Phoenix-Arizona	AZ	$63,742	352
University of Richmond	VA	$59,094	40
University of San Diego	CA	$68,584	89
University of South Florida	FL	$58,877	77
University of St Francis	IL	$73,452	167
University of the Cumberlands	KY	$48,120	327
University of the Pacific	CA	$71,126	178
University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	$68,978	110
University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	$64,672	41
University of West Florida	FL	$60,517	74
University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$55,104	75
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee	WI	$54,543	43
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh	WI	$58,968	51
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	$58,513	130
Walden University	MN	$80,064	75
Wayne State College	NE	$64,269	95
Western Governors University	UT	$69,935	1,670
Wichita State University	KS	$58,560	33
William & Mary	VA	$58,100	75
William Woods University	MO	$45,534	91
Wilmington University	DE	$95,071	46

See every school that awarded master's degrees in Curriculum and Instruction in 2023-24, including schools that do not report earnings, with the number of degrees awarded (IPEDS Completions).

Occupations O*NET associates with this field

Occupations that U.S. Department of Labor O*NET data links to Curriculum and Instruction programs, with each occupation's national median pay, projected job growth and yearly openings. They are listed in the order O*NET links them to this field; click a column heading to sort. This is a classification crosswalk, not evidence that graduates enter these jobs, and many of these occupations require more education, a license or experience beyond this credential. The figures describe the occupation, not the graduates of this major.

Career	Median pay, 2025	Projected growth, 2025–2035	Openings per year
Education Teachers, Postsecondary	$75,350	+2.5%	5,300
Instructional Coordinators	$77,440	+1.6%	23,100

Frequently asked questions

Does a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction pay off?

Graduates with a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction earn a median of $63,399 four years after graduating. Earnings four years out are early-career pay, and they vary widely by school, job and place. Compare the pay with the cost of your own school on its graduate earnings page.

How much do college graduates earn overall?

See earnings by education level and by state.

Do Curriculum and Instruction graduates work in their field?

The National Survey of College Graduates (2023) asked employed graduates whose highest degree is a master's in education, except science and math teacher education how closely their job relates to their degree. About 74% said closely related, 17% somewhat related and 9% not related (roughly 3.0 million graduates). This is a broad group of fields, not only Curriculum and Instruction, and a job outside the field is not a bad outcome by itself.

Closely relatedSomewhat relatedNot related

Source: U.S. National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Survey of College Graduates, 2023 (Table 1-3, master's level, all occupations). Survey estimates, rounded by NSF. MajorPays selected and reorganized these figures; NSF has not approved or endorsed them.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, College Scorecard field-of-study data (June 2026 release), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution; careers from O*NET 31.0 by the U.S. Dept. of Labor, ETA, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Career pay, growth and openings: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025) and Employment Projections (2025-2035). MajorPays has selected and reorganized these figures; neither agency has approved or endorsed them. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. MajorPays has modified all or some of the O*NET information; USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Earnings are for graduates who received federal financial aid and were working and not enrolled four years after finishing (graduates of academic years 2014-15 and 2015-16, in 2021 dollars; the debt figures are for graduates of 2018-19 and 2019-20); the data says nothing about how much a school added to its graduates' earnings.