Nebraska Teacher Colleges and Degrees Online Guide

This guide to teaching schools in Nebraska provides key information to help aspiring teachers research options for pursuing a career as an educator. There are several colleges and universities in the state that offer degree programs to prepare students to work in the classroom or further advance their current role as a teacher. In order to obtain a teaching degree in Nebraska, all teachers are required to complete an accredited teacher preparation program. This page has lists of top-rated teaching programs, a table of accredited, state-approved teacher preparation programs, and student reviews to help assist in the process of choosing a school that is right for you and your career goals as a professional teacher.

Quick Facts

• There are 28 colleges and universities with teacher degree programs in Nebraska.¹
• 6 colleges and universities offer an associate’s degree in education.*¹
• 19 colleges and universities offer a bachelor’s degree in education.*¹
• 20 colleges and universities offer a master’s or advanced degree in education.*¹
• 2 schools ranked in Kiplinger’s Best College Values 2019.²
• No schools ranked in Princeton Review’s Great Schools for Education Majors 2020.³
• 2 schools ranked in US News & World Report’s Best Graduate Education Programs 2019.⁴
• 4 schools ranked in US News & World Report’s Best Online Graduate Education Programs 2019.⁵
• 13 not-for-profit teacher programs are accredited by the NCATE, TEAC, or CAEP.

*For not-for-profit colleges and universities with teacher degree programs.

Top-Ranked Schools with Education Programs in Nebraska

Kiplinger’s Best College Values 2019*

• Creighton University (#136)
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln (#251)

*Institution-wide ranking.

US News & World Report’s Best Graduate Education Programs 2019

• University of Nebraska-Lincoln (#39 tie)
• College of St. Mary (#195-258)

US News & World Report’s Best Online Graduate Education Programs 2019

• University of Nebraska-Lincoln (#9 tie)
• Creighton University (#16 tie)
• University of Nebraska-Kearney (#25 tie)
• Concordia University Nebraska (#89 tie)

School Programs for Becoming a Teacher in Nebraska

Comparison of Teacher Preparation Programs

We have designed the following table to help you compare teacher preparation programs in Nebraska according to various factors. All of the schools included are not-for-profit institutions approved by the Nebraska Department of Education for the preparation of teachers. Completing a state-approved teacher preparation program is an important step towards earning licensure.

While accreditation from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) is not a requirement for licensure, it is included in the following table as CAEP provides a highly-regarded accreditation that is accepted in many states. Read more about the CAEP, NCATE, and TEAC accrediting bodies. We have also included rankings from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), a research and policy group that scores teacher preparation programs at the national level using key standards chosen to measure students’ preparation for success in teaching. For further information on the NCTQ’s program rankings, please see the notes below the table.

You will also find data on teacher preparation program enrollment, completion, and licensing exam pass rates by institution for the 2017-2018 academic year in this table. These data points are collected from annual US Department of Education records under Title II (Teacher Quality) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which provides for reporting that holds institutions and state departments of education accountable for increasing academic achievement through improvements in teacher quality.

Programs that are not ranked, or for which data is not available, in a given category are denoted as “-“.

*The NCTQ rated undergraduate elementary teaching programs in 2016 and undergraduate secondary teaching programs in 2017 by national percentile based on their overall scores on the NCTQ’s standards for teacher education. Schools that do not provide data on all key standards or that fall below the top 50% of schools nationally are not included by the NCTQ in their ratings. Visit the NCTQ website for more information on its standards and methodologies.
**Net price is per year for undergraduate tuition as calculated by the National Center for Education Statistics based on the cost of attendance (tuition, books, room and board, and related expenses) for students who qualify for in-state tuition and fees, less the average financial aid award (including grants and scholarships).

Profiles of Well-Known Schools

College of Saint Mary: The College of Saint Mary is an all-female Catholic institution located in Lincoln. The college was founded by the Sisters of Mercy and to this day remains steadfast in adhering to the principals of benevolence, servant leadership and integrity that the institution was founded upon. The College of Saint Mary’s Department of Education houses the entire undergraduate and graduate programs related to education including Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, Middle-level Education, Secondary Education, and Special Education. Students at all levels experience a mixture of theory and practice that helps build functional skills along with excellent pedagogy. The department is one of the largest on campus as education is a very popular major.

Schools with Teaching Degree Programs in Nebraska

Chadron State College
1000 Main St
Chadron, NE 69337-2690
(308) 432-6000

College of Saint Mary
7000 Mercy Rd
Omaha, NE 68106
(402) 399-2400
www.csm.edu

Concordia University Nebraska
800 N Columbia Ave
Seward, NE 68434-1556
(800) 535-5494
www.cune.edu

Hastings College
710 N Turner Ave
Hastings, NE 68901
(402) 463-2402
www.hastings.edu

Midland Lutheran College
900 N Clarkson
Fremont, NE 68025
(402) 721-6394
www.mlc.edu

Nebraska Wesleyan University
5000 St. Paul Ave
Lincoln, NE 68504-2794
(402) 466-2371
www.nebrwesleyan.edu

Northeast Community College*
801 E Benjamin
Norfolk, NE 68702-0469
(402) 371-2020
www.northeast.edu

Peru State College
600 Hoyt St
Peru, NE 68421-0010
(402) 872-3815
www.peru.edu

Union College
3800 S 48th
Lincoln, NE 68506
(402) 486-2600

University of Nebraska at Kearney
905 W 25th St
Kearney, NE 68849-1212
(308) 865-8441
www.unk.edu

University of Nebraska at Omaha
6001 Dodge St
Omaha, NE 68182-0225
(402) 554-2800

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
14th and R St
Lincoln, NE 68588
(402) 472-7211
www.unl.edu

Wayne State College
1111 Main St
Wayne, NE 68787
(402) 375-7000
https://www.wsc.edu/

Student Review: “The teacher education program is much better geared toward elementary teachers. Most of the education professors used to teach in elementary classrooms and that is where they get most of their knowledge and experience. However, the needs of secondary and elementary teachers are very different. I also felt that my classes did not adequately prepare me for real classrooms with real students. Until I was student teaching, I was completely wrong about what to expect. That said, I do think that the field experience office was very helpful in my preparation and I appreciated that they made the certification process fairly seamless. If more of the teacher education program were based on actual experience, rather than in educational theory, it would be more beneficial. For example, I have learned that it was next to useless to learn about classroom management by studying a textbook. That knowledge can only come from working with actual students, and different students will always require different approaches.” – Student at Wayne State College

Western Nebraska Community College*
1601 E 27th St
Scottsbluff, NE 69361-1899
(308) 635-3606

York College
1125 E 8th St
York, NE 68467-2699
(402) 363-5600

An asterisk (*) denotes a two-year or certificate program in education. While a two-year degree will not qualify graduates for teacher certification, it can be a good starting point for a teaching career. To learn more about what you can do with this degree, see our guide to associate’s degrees in education.

References:
1. National Center for Education Statistics College Navigator: https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/
2. Kiplinger’s Best College Values: https://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-best-college-values-college-finder/index.php#Tile
3. The Princeton Review. The Best 385 Colleges, 2020 Edition. The Princeton Review, 2019.
4. US News & World Report Best Graduate Education Schools 2019: https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-education-schools/edu-rankings
5. US News & World Report Best Online Graduate Education Schools 2019: https://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/education/rankings
6. Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP): http://caepnet.org/provider-search
7. National Council on Teacher Quality Teacher Preparation Program Review: https://www.nctq.org/review/home
8. US Department of Education 2018 Title II Reports: https://title2.ed.gov/Public/Home.aspx