Career change teachers struggle

My name is Phyllis. I went back to school to become a Spanish teacher in upstate New York at age 39, divorced with 3 sons ages 4, 7, and 10. My mother encouraged me to become a teacher with my background and experience in foreign languages and traveling. I speak Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish and French. I lived abroad in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Florence, Italy and Ankara, Turkey for a total of 4 years, and I have another undergraduate degree and 7 years of NYC working experience in international marketing. Experience is great, but teachers are not rewarded financially for it. I finally became fully certified as a teacher at age 47.

I have now been teaching or 6 years. I love teaching! I believe that I truly enrich my students lives and they love my stories... but the debt makes it hard. To go back to school the first 3 years to get my second undergraduate degree in Spanish/Education cost me $80,000. I liquidated stock and bonds, IRA's and even a retirement savings account for $30,000, and I borrowed from Sallie Mae. I had to go onto the Food Stamps program, and get free health care for my children to survive. My graduate degree cost me another $10,000 which I borrowed also. My Sallie Mae bill is $34,000, but I also have a mortgage and car loans. The financial stress was probably worse than the academic stress of going back to school. I would frequently get up at 4:00am to find a quiet time and place to study and get my work done. I am behind on my student loan payments as others from your article. I do not feel that I will be able to pay back my loan and rebuild my retirement savings account. I work during the summers teaching summer school, or waitressing. But I can now say at age 47 it is getting harder to keep up.

Last year, my youngest son hit rock bottom in school. He was going into 7th grade, and was testing out at 1-2nd grade levels in reading and writing. I was desperate and had an IEE (Independent Educational Evaluation) done on him. It turns out that he is double-deficit dyslexic. The school assured me that their programs would work for him, but could provide no programs with scientifically proven methods that work for dyslexics. My son applied to a school that specializes in his learning disability. This is costing me another $25,000 in student loans for him, but thankfully for the first time in his life he is succeeding.

I don't mind buying clothing from a thrift shop, getting by without a cell phone ... My oldest son is paying his own way for college by working during the summer and at school. He is learning now to keep his debt at a minimum. My middle son also works. He started at age 7 acting for the Glimmerglass Opera. He also works at a coffee shop, and buses table to pay his own way. I provide basic essentials for my children. Luxuries are out of the question, including cable television. Penny pinching is a way of life. I can surely understand why students will think twice about going to school to become a teacher, and for non-traditional students to go back to school, it is a no-brainer, "no way!" It simply will not pay back financially.

Think of all of the people with fantastic experience that the school systems could have teaching, but they don't because the requirements to teach are simply too high in both time and price.

Sincerely,
Phyllis, a teacher