Interesting Grants and Loans situation

[SoloAJ]

So here is my interesting situation in the state of Illinois.

I get pretty much maximum financial aid. My mother makes like 26k a year with 4 kids. I get about 10k in grants and 5k in loans per year.

I was planning to get my English BA this May, then reattend ISU for 2 more years to get secondary teaching certification (by way of a 2nd bachelors).

I found out recently that you cannot get any money from grants if you have a bachelor's degree. So instead of going from 10k in debt to 20k in debt (like I expected)...I would be going from 10k in debt to 40k in debt, just by adding two years.

So I am now toying with the idea of switching majors in the next couple days to English Ed. This would make it impossible for me to get my BA in English. And, in theory, get 10k in grants again per year.

So basically I was getting my English BA as an insurance policy in case I didn't follow through the next 2 years and get my English Ed BA.
Is it worth $20,000 for that insurance policy?

Questions and comments and advice all welcome.

[kbinder]

Question: Can you simply finish the English BA requirements but not apply for the degree/graduation? If yes, this seems like the easy answer.

[Misfire]

Get a masters instead. There's plenty of money available.

[SoloAJ]

Well, I have already applied for my degree/graduation (I didn't find out about this situation until a couple days ago). I should call the student office place and find out if I can indeed detract my application. WOrth a try.

And Misfire, I actually want to teach at a college level somewhat. But I also want to try high school. I can't get a Masters and teach high school...sooooooo, I am going to get my secondary certification first I think.

I do want to teach, I just dont know which level.

[Misfire]

[ QUOTE ]
I can't get a Masters and teach high school...

[/ QUOTE ]

Says who? My HS had several teachers w/ their masters. Some taught HS during the day and college in the evenings.

[SoloAJ]

Misfire,

In the state of Illinois, you wouldn't get hired out of college with a masters. Because the pay scale factors in both experience and education, no one would hire me coming out of college with 0 experience and a masters. It would be to their benefit to just hire someone with a bachelor's and 0 experience...less money.

It is becuase they're unionized (or whatever).

Basically as a teacher in the state of Illinois, you get a job, then get more education, which gets you more money.

So my tentative plan is to teach high school until I get my masters, then see if I can get a night class or summer class at the community college to test the waters.


That all said, I am going to be risking quite a bit if I make this switch. I will have nothing to fall back on and effectively lock myself into 1.5 years of classes and then a semester of student teaching to get my degree. If for some reason, which I really don't expect, I hate teaching...that student teaching to get my degree will be a huge hassle.

I am thinking it is worth risking gaining $10,000 to find out.

[The Bandit Fish]

[ QUOTE ]
Well, I have already applied for my degree/graduation (I didn't find out about this situation until a couple days ago). I should call the student office place and find out if I can indeed detract my application. WOrth a try.

And Misfire, I actually want to teach at a college level somewhat. But I also want to try high school. I can't get a Masters and teach high school...sooooooo, I am going to get my secondary certification first I think.

I do want to teach, I just dont know which level.

[/ QUOTE ]

Huh? The no child left behind BS requires that you have a Masters, and a number of states required that you have it or get it withing x number of years after being hired.

Edit: Oh, you want to stay in IL. Eh, move somewhere warmer. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[MrMon]

I'm currently in a transition to teaching program, so I know a little about this. (I already have a master's in business, but my cert. area is physics, which is rare, so the schools will just have to deal with it. And my second master's in Ed.) They do talk about the master's problem in Ed. school, but I don't think it's a problem in the best districts. There, they want the best teachers and a few thousand more won't stop them from hiring you with a full set of degrees. But there's an even better way around the problem that a lot of us are doing, especially those of us in your situation. You can get certification while in a master's program while not actually getting the masters. Certification requires less hours than the masters, so you get that first, while qualifying for Stafford Loans, you get the job, without the masters, then complete the masters within the first year or two while teaching. You could probably have all the coursework done before your first job, just be short the thesis, then complete that while teaching.

You could also teach at a private school without certification, or do a provisional cert. program while teaching, but those are a whole other line of thinking that you may not be interested in. In any case, having a real degree, not just an education degree will be a real plus. Especially in English, where you'll be competing with a lot of Ed. majors with minors in English. And you might seriously consider getting the certification while in the Ed. masters, then switch back to an English master's, and avoid a whole lot of b.s. in the Ed. deptartment. I've got classmates planning to do just that, and it's also more valuable, though not necessarily easier.

[MrMon]

[ QUOTE ]
Huh? The no child left behind BS requires that you have a Masters, and a number of states required that you have it or get it withing x number of years after being hired.


[/ QUOTE ]

This is not true. NCLB requires that you are "highly qualified" and are qualified to teach your subject area. This does not require a masters.