Support NeoGAF

[maxcriden]

Teachers With Student Debt: The Struggle, The Causes And What Comes Next

Factor No. 1: The pressure to earn more degrees

Public school teachers traditionally have had undergraduate degrees in education. But over the past decade, K-12 teachers have had a growing economic incentive to earn master's degrees. In some cases, they're actually required to do so.
◾Of the 145 largest school districts in the country, all but a handful pay teachers more if they earn master's degrees. The increase can be thousands of dollars per year. That is according to a database maintained by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

"The state of KY requires a master's degree, [to renew credentials], but offers a very small pay increase once it is received. Without interest, it would take 10+ years to pay off a loan for a master's degree." (Less than $25K in debt)

Factor No. 2: Anemic teacher pay
◾The temptation to go back for a master's is even stronger because public school teacher pay has been suffering in general. According to a 2016 report by the Economic Policy Institute, teachers earn 17 percent less than similarly educated workers in other fields. In 1994, the gap was just 1.8 percent.

"It costs entirely too much money to become a teacher that gets paid barely above the poverty line. Teachers today are being asked to go into heavy debt and are not being paid as the professionals they are." (More than $50K in debt)

So there is a strong incentive to get a master's degree, combined with a lack of the money to pay out of pocket.

Factor No. 3: Rising tuition and unlimited loans

Graduate tuition grew an average of 28 percent between 2004 and 2014, after inflation, across all types of institutions.

And, starting in the 2006-2007 school year, the federal government created the GRAD PLUS loan, a student loan for graduate students with essentially no limit.

Taken together, rising tuition and higher loan limits mean that 2 out of 3 teachers who get master's degrees take out student loans to pay for them. That proportion has been on the rise. Piled on top of undergraduate loans, this has led to growing debt that outpaces mostly modest income.

"My monthly payment is estimated at one-fourth my total income. Even at that rate, I will take more than 10 years to pay off my loans." (More than $75K in debt)
◾A 2014 study found that people who earned a master's in education had more student loan debt ($50,879 on average) than people who earned an MBA ($42,000).
◾There was an 82 percent increase in the average debt load of education majors with a master's degree between 2000 and 2012.

Much more here: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017...t-the-struggle-the-causes-and-what-comes-next

Teachers With Student Debt: These Are Their Stories

More than 2,000 teachers responded to our first survey about the issue, and we're following up to hear a few of their stories:

Lauren Peńa is a 10th-grade English teacher in Oklahoma City with 10 years of experience. She's married and lives with her husband, stepson and 10-month-old daughter. She makes $43,000 a year.

After starting off with $30,000 in loans, she has $6,000 left to pay off. She took out a 15-year loan, but she's hoping to pay it off next year, 12 years after she took it out.

Some of her loans were forgiven because she worked in a Title I school and taught Spanish, a designated "high-need" subject.





"I tell my students: 'If you're going to be a teacher or a social worker, or have one of these important jobs that that doesn't really compensate very well — don't take out loans, because it doesn't make financial sense,' " she says.

Peńa says that she wishes someone had given her that advice — that maybe she'd have gone to a cheaper state school.

"It's just like this suffocating debt," says Ashley Castelli, a middle school language arts teacher who lives near St. Louis. She's been a teacher for five years and borrowed $42,000 to get her bachelor's degree. She's been paying her loans for six years, but owes the same amount she took out because she's paying down only the interest each month, not her principal.

She makes $41,000 a year.

"I feel, like, kind of duped," says Castelli. "I don't ever look at myself as a teacher making enough money to get ahead of the loans that I had to have for the degree that was required for my job."

She thought about enrolling in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, but she doesn't want to pay less per month and have that program go away. Her expected payoff date is in 2026, but she's hoping she can do it by 2023.

Several more stories here: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017...ers-with-student-debt-these-are-their-stories

Related articles:

Teachers, Lawyers And Others Worry About The Fate Of Student Debt Forgiveness

Confused About Your Student Loans? You're Not Alone

-

Any teachers here on GAF or those who know teachers who have a personal experience with this to share? Interested to read thoughts of those with personal experience and also just GAFers' thoughts on the subject in general.

 

[shandy706]

My girlfriend just graduated with her Masters.

$91k in student loans here.

Yes, her pay is horrid compared to her schooling. I make basically the same salary as her with no degree in my field.

Sad

 

[reggieandTFE]

My wife is a teacher and, fortunately for us, was able to get her Masters in a grant funded program that meant she ONLY had to take $18000 in student loans out. She has a lot of friends who got teaching degrees from less prestigious schools with $80k in debt.

 

[Koren]

The master degree here in France is *required* to pass the national recruitment for teachers (well, you can pass the recruitment before the master degree, but you have to get the master degree afterwards). In fact, prep schools for engineer schools even often require a phd (depending on the field)...

But at least, studies are cheap... We still managed to avoid student loans in most cases (or at least big loans)

 

[gaugebozo]

Yep. This is my wife. The state of NY requires you to get a master's, and starting pay even in a wealthy upstate district is 40,000. She's actually working at a pre-school right now and makes much less. To add to that, many of her friends couldn't even get jobs. Everybody graduated with a 4.0 and a masters, and there's no way to distinguish yourself. Schools only hire from select private colleges, so you're going to have huge loans.

 

[watershed]

I'm in the exact same boat, young teacher with a Master's, early in my career, with debt from grad school. The factors listed in the article are totally true and felt by pretty much every young teacher.

The costs of higher ed and the loans that go along with them is a pervasive issue across all majors. Teachers feel it more because teaching pays so little, as the article points out. It's a terrible situation and makes it especially hard for teachers living and working in expensive cities. I've got a lot to say on this issue having been on many sides of it.

The 2 things people should do if they're thinking about becoming a teacher, imo, are:
1) Don't go straight from their BA to grad school for a Master's in Teaching. Take some time off from college, travel, work, get into the classroom through other means. Pay down or away your BA loans before taking on your MA laons. People who go straight from BA to MA end up having some issues adjusting to teaching in the classroom and all the other aspects of teaching for a living. That's just my opinion.

2) Get used to debt. Set up a repayment option that makes the most sense for you, check out possible loan forgiveness, then start repaying your loans.

 

[BocoDragon]

I know a financial aid advisor at a local university. She regularly advises people that declaring bankruptcy might be a better tool for dealing with particularly large loans (at least in Canada, where student loans would be called off through the process). One year of managed accounting and a ruination of your credit is potentially worth less than throwing money down a pit for 10-20 years.

That's fucked up :/

 

[Chozoman]

I know a financial aid advisor at a local university. She regularly advises people that declaring bankruptcy might be a better tool for dealing with particularly large loans (at least in Canada, where student loans would be called off through the process). One year of managed accounting and a ruination of your credit is potentially worth less than throwing money down a pit for 10-20 years.

That's fucked up :/

Aren't student loans the one kind that are exempt from bankruptcy forgiveness?

 

[Baron Doggystyle von Woof]

80k student loan? Jesus that is ridiculous.

 

[BocoDragon]

Aren't student loans the one kind that are exempt from bankruptcy forgiveness?

I think so for other countries, but not in Canada.

 

[Linkyn]

I got a master's degree as part of the requirement for the teaching position I'll start in this fall. 5 years at university netted me about 40k € in student debt that I'm expected to pay back within the next 10 years. Luckily, teaching is one of the better paid careers here, so the effort to get this far feels largely justified. I will never understand this tendency to underpay people working in education or public healthcare.

 

[Chozoman]

I think so for other countries, but not in Canada.

Ahh! I stand corrected. Canada keeping it classy once again.

 

[Acorn]

Over here the govt covers uni for teachers would make sense in America too but yeah. You never have enough teachers should be trying to encourage people at every opportunity.

 

[BocoDragon]

Ahh! I stand corrected. Canada keeping it classy once again.

I guess. It's still an ugly option, but at least it's an option.

 

[Shadybiz]

It's terrible and it's only going to get worse. And, Asshole's proposed budget includes getting rid of Public Service Loan Forgiveness starting in 2018, so teachers starting school after that date won't even have that. Yeah...remove incentives for going into a typically thankless career.

 

[Lazy vs Crazy]

40k isn't bad starting pay for someone with a degree (especially considering you get 2+ months off every summer), plus there are loan forgiveness programs.

I work in private industry and I'm in far more debt than the folks mentioned in this article and make barely more. I don't have the option of loan forgiveness. Not a day goes by when I don't wish I had become a teacher instead, it would have been a much better financial move.

 

[maxcriden]

40k isn't bad starting pay for someone with a degree (especially considering you get 2+ months off every summer), plus there are loan forgiveness programs.

I work in private industry and I'm in far more debt than the folks mentioned in this article and make barely more. I don't have the option of loan forgiveness. Not a day goes by when I don't wish I had become a teacher instead, it would have been a much better financial move.

Sincerely sorry to hear about your situation and I hope some good options will come along for you soon.

On a separate note, is that true about the two plus months off every summer? I thought I had read it was shorter than that depending on how much work the school gives the teacher during off time, trainings, et al., and when the school year starts and ends in some places. I was also under the impression many teachers during the school year work longer than 40 hours due to grading assignments and handling other school aspects like extracurricular activities.

 

[LinkAndEpona]

Goddamn this issue is so depressing and frightening at the same time.

We desperately need education reform.

 

[slit]

40k isn't bad starting pay for someone with a degree (especially considering you get 2+ months off every summer), plus there are loan forgiveness programs.

I work in private industry and I'm in far more debt than the folks mentioned in this article and make barely more. I don't have the option of loan forgiveness. Not a day goes by when I don't wish I had become a teacher instead, it would have been a much better financial move.

That entirely depends on where you live. There are places in the U.S. where you would barely be able to rent a shack with that salary.

 

[Plinko]

On a separate note, is that true about the two plus months off every summer? I thought I had read it was shorter than that depending on how much work the school gives the teacher during off time, trainings, et al., and when the school year starts and ends in some places. I was also under the impression many teachers during the school year work longer than 40 hours due to grading assignments and handling other school aspects like extracurricular activities.

I get 2 months off but all of it recently was master's degree coursework and working on curriculum. It's never a full break.

Yes, it's not a 40-hour a week job. I have multiple 60- or 70-hour work weeks throughout the school year. Rarely do I ever have 40. Averages much closer to 50.

 

[maxcriden]

I get 2 months off but all of it recently was master's degree coursework and working on curriculum. It's never a full break.

Yes, it's not a 40-hour a week job. I have multiple 60- or 70-hour work weeks throughout the school year. Rarely do I ever have 40. Averages much closer to 50.

Thanks for the info. That is rough. You're a trooper. I'm sure your students appreciate it.

 

[Seth Enosh]

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program should cover this for a lot of people. https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service

(Yes, trump's budget proposed eliminating it, but that budget is DOA in congress)

It's definitely a better idea to go to a state school if you're planning to go into a low paying job and don't have a generous package of grants from the private colleges you're considering, though. Financial literacy needs to be taught in high school rather than "follow your dream" and "don't worry about money or a career" as preached by some guidance counselors right now.

Edit: also, the pay bump for getting a Master's is terrible and should be abolished. It's pushing people to get unnecessary degrees and debt. Education research has continually shown those degrees are useless. https://www.brookings.edu/research/who-profits-from-the-masters-degree-pay-bump-for-teachers/

 

[modernlifeisANDY]

I'm one of the lucky ones. Came out of undergrad with only around $20k in loans. Did a Masters/licensure program in a satellite campus for cheap - $11k or so. It was a good alternative to a traditional Masters program.

In MA, I make around $80k after 10 years, with about $5k in student loan forgiveness available to me in a year.

It's generally pretty rough. People see "summers off" and say "you have it easy!" It just means I have the summer off from students - not my job. There's a ton of prep that goes into it all!

 

[BocoDragon]

It's generally pretty rough. People see "summers off" and say "you have it easy!" It just means I have the summer off from students - not my job. There's a ton of prep that goes into it all!

My mother is a teacher and said the exact same thing to me 20 years ago, and I saw it with my own eyes. Teaching takes loads of prep.

 

[gaiages]

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program should cover this for a lot of people. https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service

(Yes, trump's budget proposed eliminating it, but that budget is DOA in congress)

It's definitely a better idea to go to a state school if you're planning to go into a low paying job and don't have a generous package of grants from the private colleges you're considering, though. Financial literacy needs to be taught in high school rather than "follow your dream" and "don't worry about money or a career" as preached by some guidance counselors right now.

Edit: also, the pay bump for getting a Master's is terrible and should be abolished. It's pushing people to get unnecessary degrees and debt. Education research has continually shown those degrees are useless. https://www.brookings.edu/research/who-profits-from-the-masters-degree-pay-bump-for-teachers/

One thing to note about the loan forgiveness program, though, is that you have to make 10 years (non consecutive thankfully) worth of payments before the loans can be forgiven. That's not a small chunk of most peoples' loans and doesn't save them from what could be hard to make payments now. Oh, and only certain payment types count towards the forgiveness (made payments while in school? You're out of luck there!) While there are repayment plans to help with this, there have been... issues with loan providers in providing the correct information for those (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...-us-student-loan-company-over-repayments.html yes yes Fox News link but it's the first google result I got that was correct from my shoddy search terms ).

The whole student loan thing is a mess and that teachers have to take out so much money for a Master's for just what is essentially a pittance is a sad state of affairs. They're TEACHERS for crying out loud, we need them to educate future generations. It'd sure be nice if they weren't swimming in debt, even if it can be forgiven down the road.