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- I finished my Master's for teaching in May 2008, only to enter a jobless market due to the recession.
- I had a terrible experience in the field, got furloughed, and often couldn't make ends meet.
- Now I make more by writing curriculum, tutoring, and freelance writing, and I'm not looking back.
- Read more from Personal Finance Insider.
I finished my undergrad in May 2007, and then went straight into a 10 month program to get my Master of Arts of Teaching (MAT). I am no longer a public school teacher — these days, I write curriculum and tutor while also doing some freelance writing.
I actually make more doing these things than I did while teaching, and it allows me to work much better hours. I regret getting my Master's degree for teaching.
Millennials get blamed for a lot, but our timing is not our fault. In 2007, just before the Great Recession, I didn't know what the investment return on my Master's degree would be. I didn't know there wouldn't be teaching jobs, that pay wouldn't increase along with standard of living, and that I'd be out of public classrooms for so long.
Getting my degree and entering a jobless market
For my Master's degree, I had $6,000 in scholarships. I used money from a trust I got after my grandfather's death to make up the rest, something in the realm of $20,000.
I loved student teaching, and my supervising teachers taught me so much more than I learned in my classes. At the beginning of the school year, both hinted that they'd be retiring that year or a few after and they could put in a good word for me to take over their positions.
However, by May 2008 when I graduated, neither one had plans to retire because their pensions had just taken a big hit from the recession.
I went to a job fair. I appeared at every booth and told them I taught drama and English, and their eyes glazed over. They weren't hiring.
My brief teaching career
As August rolled around, I was convinced I would be joining the pool of substitute teachers, but the week before school started, I landed a job that paid around $35,000.
My first year of teaching, I felt like every day was the worst day of my life. I was unprepared to teach a bunch of students who were only five years younger than me and the administration was less than supportive.
We then had to move across the country for my husband's schooling, and so I got a part-time job at a middle school where I ran the after-school drama program.
I loved this job, but it was a lot of work. I was in the building about 10 hours a day, sometimes all weekend, and we still couldn't pay rent without dipping into my trust. I worked retail jobs during the summers.
After several years of pay freezes and union negotiations, I was furloughed along with several other teachers with under five years experience. We were told that we would be rehired when it was possible.
By then, we were planning to move again anyway because my husband finished school. So I moved, got pregnant, and applied to other teaching jobs in Oregon.
Crickets. I had one interview, but didn't get the job. I put myself on the substitute list, which was full of recently retired and furloughed teachers. Since no one knew me here, no one requested me. I worked one day as a substitute that entire school year.
Becoming an independent contractor and tutor
During that time, I took independent contractor jobs teaching drama for rates between $17 and $30 per hour. I was not paid for prep time in any of these roles. Once my daughter was born, I kept trying to teach drama. However, I realized that I was paying my babysitter more than I made after factoring in time for travel.
I started tutoring with an agency, but the pay was similar to what I was making before. I decided to start tutoring independently, which increased my pay to rates between $40 and $50 per hour.
After I had my second child, I kept tutoring and made about $10,000 that year. I was still the primary caretaker for the kids, so I only worked a few hours a week.
Then the pandemic shut everything down. My drama jobs, along with all theater work, were suddenly gone. I tutored a bit over Zoom. I got an expensive divorce.
Starting over during the pandemic
During 2020, I started writing and submitting essays and picked up a curriculum writing job. I also started tutoring a sixth grader in my house, while my first grader did online learning. I tutored other kids either on their porches or with masks on throughout the fall.
This past fall when my kids had in-person school again, I applied for a part-time teaching job at my daughter's public school. However, when I saw the hours and knew it wouldn't work.
I didn't have any before-care for my son who is in daycare, and I knew that getting a nanny wouldn't be worth it. I left my state after one year and then taught only five years total, mostly part-time, so my "step" on the union pay scale was still very low, even though I technically had 13 years of experience.
The field of teaching is great, but the market is unlivable
Don't get me wrong — my kids' teachers, and my friends who are teachers are fantastic individuals and truly exceptional professionals. That said, the various systems in place make it harder and harder for schools to retain and recruit highly-skilled employees.
It's a vocation and shouldn't become a hobby, as it became for me when my kids were young. Teachers shouldn't have to rely on a spouse's income or family money in order to do it.
Figuring out how much I make exactly can be tricky, because I get paid per hour writing curriculum and tutoring, per project when freelance writing, and was paid via salary when I was a teacher. However, when I do the math, as a teacher I was making anywhere between $18 and $26 per hour and I make anywhere between $45 and $60 per hour, roughly, via my various side gigs.
I probably don't make as much annually as I did while teaching, but that's because I choose to work fewer hours and spend most of my time taking care of my kids instead of hiring a nanny.
Many teachers, especially ones who got in before me, can make teaching work for them financially, but as a whole teachers are not paid nearly what they're worth.
People ask me frequently when or if I'll go back to public school teaching. I can't say no for sure, but I know that right now — in this country — I can't say yes.
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