Why We Need Financing Strategies to Help Current and Future Early Educators Earn Degrees

The majority of early childhood professionals are poorly compensated for their important work, and wages remain low and stagnant. Child care workers across all settings earn an hourly median wage of $10.72, with pre-K teachers in all settings earning an hourly median wage of only $13.94, compared to $31.29 for kindergarten teachers.¹ Early educators receive limited benefits that vary greatly by job title and setting and are frequently expected to complete work responsibilities outside paid hours.² Currently, early educators enroll in public support programs, such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (also known as “food stamps”), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), at more than double the rate of workers across all occupations.³

Furthermore, college degrees are expensive, and often not financially realistic for many early educators, who fall in the second percentile of annual earnings by occupation.⁴ The average associate degree at a two-year college costs around $9,500 a year, while the average bachelor’s degree at a public, four-year institution costs about $18,600 a year.⁵ That amount is equivalent to 83 percent of the average salary of a child care worker and 64 percent of the average salary of a pre-K teacher.

Early educators receive limited benefits and are frequently expected to complete work responsibilities outside paid hours.

In the face of high college costs and low teacher pay, some states and cities have begun thinking of creative ways to finance higher education for early educators through the use of scholarships. Some programs are national but are modified at the state level to fit certain local landscapes, while others are entirely “homegrown,” consisting of private and public partnerships that increase access to scholarships for early educators. All efforts, though, are important supports for early educators seeking higher education, including federal financing strategies, such as Pell Grants, that assist with the cost of college courses. The programs described below offer a snapshot of strategies to assist early educators in pursuing college degrees.