u/ThisAintNoPipe4

TL;DR: I’m interested in pursuing degree advancement outside of education while still teaching k-12 full-time and would like to hear from people who have done so (if there are any out there).

I am a high school social studies teacher with a masters in education and have been teaching for a few years now. I like teaching, but recently I’ve felt like it’s not been giving me enough fulfillment. I’m not quite ready for a career change, but I’ve been playing around with the idea of going back to grad school.

From what I’ve seen so far, the easiest and most affordable thing would be to get another masters through WGU. Many teachers say they could manage their job and do it at their own pace. Based on my district’s pay schedule, I think it would take 3 years for the salary raise to pay off the tuition costs. (I know I will probably need to check with my district to confirm they will accept their degrees toward the MS + 30 stipend.)

However, a big part of me would rather get another academic/professional degree related to my content areas and not education. I’m open to almost anything: core social studies subjects, MBA, holocaust studies, etc. The obvious con would be in terms of the cost-benefit analysis my pay bump would be the exact same but at a higher cost. On the other hand, it could be useful if I wanted to make a career change. There’s also the possibility of teaching part-time community college with an academic masters, which could further supplement my full-time k-12 pay.

The biggest thing for me is I don’t want to take a sabbatical from teaching to get another degree (I need the money). So have any of y’all continued to teach full-time while pursuing an academic/professional degree outside of eduction? Was it manageable or the worst time of your life?

I’ve been teaching for a few years now and I’m sometimes torn about the profession. I think I could look past a lot of the problems with teaching if I just had a little bit more income, but I also feel like I need a new mountain to climb.

Grad school seems like a possible fix for those problems. +30 hours will put me on a higher pay schedule, and it’s just something else to stimulate my intellectual needs. I’ve also thought about teaching part-time at the local community college as a side gig, which would require +18 hours of graduate credit hours. I already have a masters degree, but it’s just in teaching.

The three options I have considered: 1.) an additional masters degree in my academic content, 2.) an MBA, or 3.) an educational specialist. 1.) seems the least practical and would only really be useful if I also taught at the community college, but again that might just be all I need. 2.) seems like the most practical, but I don’t know if that’s really me. 3.) also seems practical: it would pay more than an additional masters degree and I think it would help build transferable skills that could be used outside of the classroom (data analysis, technology, etc.).

The drawbacks are money/student loan debt (of course) and I don’t want to stretch myself too thin (previously struggled with work-life balance).

I know a lot of people continue teaching while doing graduate school and they make it seem manageable, but I’m still hesitant. Any general advice? Which program is best for maintaining a work-life balance while continuously teaching/working? Which program would be best for transitioning out of teaching if that’s how I feel in the next few years? Do you have any advice/tips for making grad school doable? Does online grad school make these options more viable, or should I not even consider that?