Has he considered majoring in history? My D was interested in education for a hot minute. Many people in the field advised her to major in the subject versus majoring in education.
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Ideally he would like to be able to teach with a Bachelors, and then be able to pursue a Masters part time while teaching. That is how most of teachers do it here. A BA in history and you are still 2 years away from teaching. My neice and her husband both alternative tracked, and it was much more difficult then if you just received the cert while pursuing your Bachelors.
I was basing this thread on online calculators. Albright and McDaniel came in a little bit below 20K so he needs to earn about 5K to make it work with no outside loans aside from Stafford loans.
There is also an additional scholarship at Ursinus that he is applying for but that is wishful thinking.
Still has a few more lines in the water so we shall see.
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Ideally he would do both, and be able to teach after receiving his bachelors.
3 years ago Stockton was practically free if you had good stats. Off campus housing cheap and plentiful. My daughter will graduate with some Stafford loans and that is it. The program in place at the time my son would have gotten 10-12K(which was always our contingency) but that all went away with the virus.
It is certainly possible to find a college that is less than $20K, but I think the OP is frustrated that things seemed to have changed so much in the time between his dd and ds. Yes, if you are willing to move way down the quality ladder or go to a no-name college in a faraway state, you can likely get merit money. That would make it hard to teach in NJ. And there is a trade-off as to the quality of education for the money saved. As well as the likelihood of employment from a Del State compared to Stockton or even Susquehanna. For example, Del State has minimum requirements of a 2.0 GPA and an 800 SAT score. Stockton has an average SAT score of over 1100. NJ is expensive, but provides a good education.
Many of NJ community colleges are unfortunately not great and not in good proximity to public transportation. Driving a long distance requires a decent car. Having bought one with my son last year, $8,000 does not go that far for a car that doesnât have well over 100K miles on it.
Certainly, the son can make some money working part time. But that is not always easy either, unless he gets work study, especially at a small, isolated college if the kid doesnât have a car. There has to be some way to pay for college, if working doesnât pan out.
Good luck! Hopefully, when the final numbers come in you will find an affordable option that will not require a lot in the way of loans.
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As for loan forgiveness, I am hoping that pans out. But there have been numerous stories in the press over the last year about the shady way the program is run and how few of those that should be eligible actually are found to be. It is not enough to teach in a low income area, you also have to have the correct type of loan.
Further, a teacher can get stuck in a low income district and never make up the difference in salary (a friend is in that position). It can be hard to transfer from a district that is considered to provide a âbadâ education to a better district, especially once you have a few years of teaching in and so are more expensive than a teacher right out of school.
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I was looking at the wrong one. He would qualify for PSLF and you donât need to be at a Title 1 school to get that. You just need to work for a non profit/govt.
I was part of the application screening, interviewing and hiring process in my school district for 30 years.
This newly minted history teacher will be applying for a high school teaching job and will likely be competing with hundreds of other applicants. The applicant with a content area degree and masters will get an interview in many places before a bachelors only candidateâŠfor a first year position. Districts donât save that much money on first year teachers salaries between masters and bachelors. They are looking for knowledge and experience.
It doesnât take TWO years to complete the requirements for teacher certification, it takes one year in most places.
This student needs to speak to his mentor regarding current certification requirements and hiring practices in NJ, if he plans to teach in NJ.
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My Neice and her husband both did this. It took at least 2 years, if you alternative track and work. The only place that will hire a BA in subject matter is a Catholic/private school.
He will first need a masters within 5 years to keep his job. He should not even think educational leadership until after he has a couple of years under his belt. It would take 4 years to even come up for tenure.
At the NYC DOE, you are not getting a leadership position without 7-10 years experience.
There are multiple pathways to becoming a teacher including TFA (nationwide) and since you are in NJ, he could consider NYC Teaching fellows.
Since SPED is a shortage area (there are a glut of ELA and Social Studies teachers), he should consider becoming dually certified in special ed (which at the high school level needs to have a specialization). This could put him in line for 17k in loan forgiveness after teaching 5 years).
Pathways to teaching
UFT teacher salary
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Even in our more rural district, the supply of history teachers is high. For some other positions, not so much, but for history, yes. I suspect a Masters might give one an edge - as would a degree in history.
I feel as if they are suggesting the addâl years after BA as a masters program at a college that offers the MA/MAT w/teacher certification, or a 4+1 program at the college he attends. I donât think many here would suggest the Alternate Route program (especially in over populated NJ!). Some of the 4+1 programs in NJ are providing the Masters in SpEd along with teacher certification. If you can find a 4 year program that gives him a teaching degree in a content area, that could be his best option if paying for that 5th year is out of the question. However, I do agree with the others that he will be competing against many for those high school social studies positions. He needs to stand out and that is where the Special Education certification comes in handy.
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I am looking at my HS web site. We have 15 year plus teachers in all fields with a BS or BA. Not sure I am understanding this?
As our hs head put it: I can get a history teacher any day. I need stem.
Thatâs not to scare anyone off. (Weâre very much a humanities family.) But your marketability is something to consider.
So I second getting the addl SpEd cert. Especially for a young male.
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I am looking at this from a NYC DOE perspective, where you will get pay raises for your masters and 30 credits above your masters (mid career teachers make $100,000)
Public or Private school?
Does he plan on staying in NJ?
It appears the OP is in south Jersey, thatâs a long commute. Itâs easier to get jobs in urban areas, a friend of mine got her certification and then became a SAHM before every working. She got a teaching job a few years ago, 15 or so years after college, in Paterson, then Newark, where she got tenure.
We have Camden and Philly nearby.
In a perfect world he would want to be a college Football coach. If he is unable to do that he wants to teach and coach HS Football.
The back up to that is just joining the NJ State Police which you need a bachelors degree for anyhow.
Both McDaniel and Albright have a 4+1 and are both recruiting him for football (and are within his budget) with the potential of Football getting messed up this year with the virus, the potential exists for getting packaged for a 5th year. They dont typically redshirt but have been packaging kids a 5th year if they want to play and remain in school.
Or else hooking on somewhere entirely different as a grad assistant and funding a Masters that way is potentially an option.
The football end of things is integral to a lot of these ideas, so ideally he would like to go somewhere that has D3 football.
Eyeballing his FA information Susquehanna coach seemed to think he could get in the ballpark of McDaniel and Albright so he may have another option there.
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He would ideally stay in NJ somewhere closer to the coast though, but would take what he could get.
I am just not following âMasters if he wants to keep his jobâ when half our HS are tenured teachers with BAâs or BSâs
While he made not need a masters to stay in south jersey, he should definitely consider getting one, because you never know where life will take him. Just because he may not need it there, he may need it someplace else.
While he may want to coach football, he may have to wait until someone retires to get his shot.
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How long ago did these teachers get their jobs or tenure? In some situations, credentialing requirements for those entering the professions have increased over the years/decades.
Also, consider whether the subjects they teach are in higher demand. For high-demand subjects, teachers may get hired with the minimum credentials, but for low-demand subjects, ânice to haveâ higher credentials may be effectively mandatory to be competitive for hiring.
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