Thinking about a M.S degree- advice please

amother

cornflower

Wed, Jun 03 2015, 11:12 am

I have been teaching for 5 years now, and this past year I switched to a new school, where it was a complete disaster. Top to bottom, a completely dysfunctional place.
I feel like now, since I am not going back there, I feel like I should get a masters now.

I have been toying with the idea of going back for my masters for about 2 years now and I cannot make a decision about it.

I have been looking into Touro's M.S Early Childhood Education & Special Education. I have a bunch of friends who did this program, all over 5-6 years ago, who currently work as SIET or as Gen. Ed teachers. But I don't know anyone who has done it completely online, like I have been looking into.

here are my concerns:
its close to $40,000, so I would obviously need financial loans, which scares me, because my dh has almost quadruple that in loans from his schooling
-am I kidding myself that I can do online schooling? will I be able to do the work, and still take care of my family?
-Do I really need a masters degree? Should I just continue teaching without it?
-even at its quickest, it takes me 1.5 years, (which lets be realistic, it will take longer) I have no guarantee I will get a good paying job to pay back those loans.

I am so lost. and confused about this.
any advice is appreciated.

amother

cornflower

Wed, Jun 03 2015, 11:43 am

thanks for the reply

to be honest, the only reason why I chose Touro, is because other people did it, its well known, and I know people have gotten jobs with a Touro degree (as opposed to idk, University of Kentucky, (I made that up)

as of now, I am still looking for a half a day teaching position, I sent out my resumes to a few places... I haven't heard anything yet..

seeker

Wed, Jun 03 2015, 1:10 pm

Getting certified as a teacher definitely opens up broader job markets for you. Unless there is some loophole for your previous teaching experience, you would need to do student teaching in addition to whatever is online, definitely ask for the details on that before you commit. I had to quit my job to get it done.

$40k is a lot. I don't know about the online schooling experience but a less expensive on-site degree can be manageable, many offer evening classes and you can do two nights a week for 2-3 years, it would take longer but be a fraction of the cost and you could work daytime during most of that time.

gp2.0

Wed, Jun 03 2015, 1:16 pm

Maybe it's worth calling TTI for info, their special ed degree is about $18,000. However it's through Daemen College which maybe you're not interested in?

You can always call and ask for references, like, ask how many students found jobs after graduating from their special ed master's program in the past few years.