Why a Social Life Is So Important Outside of School

How often have you been reminded how lucky you are to have weekends and summers off work? There are too many to count. People don’t realize the amount of work spent doing your job on these weekends and summer breaks. This work means that your social life may take a hit. However, social life outside of school is crucial for mental health. Lack of social contact can result in stress, depression, or other problems. Interacting with others and engaging in social activities allows you to relax and recharge. By nurturing your social life, you will bring a renewed energy to your classroom, which can positively impact not only your students but your job satisfaction and your connections with your colleagues.

Ways to Prioritize Teacher Tasks to Have a Social Life

When prioritizing teaching tasks, you must remember that not all tasks will carry the same weight as others. Take a comprehensive look at your to-do list and evaluate which tasks are crucial, which ones can be deferred, and which can be delegated to others. To assist you further in effectively prioritizing your tasks, here are a few additional tips to consider.

Implement a Ranking System

While you may think that every task requires your immediate attention, it is likely this is not the case. Keep in mind that you have the power to manage your own time and decide when to address various tasks. If you’re completing a task and someone requests your assistance, take a moment to consider whether it truly demands immediate attention or if it can be postponed until you finish your current task.

Often, students may implore your immediate attention, making you feel compelled to drop everything and attend to them immediately. However, it is not necessary nor advisable to do so. Instead, pause and evaluate the significance of the task in question. Maintain an ongoing list of your tasks, organized according to their importance. You can easily create such a list by folding a sheet of paper in half and labeling the left side as “Important” and the right side as “Can Wait.”

Prioritize Your Tasks to Identify What’s Urgent

There will always be that “one thing” that demands your immediate attention as an educator. Your objective is to determine which task is the most important priority and tackle it each morning when you arrive at school. Completing this task first will diminish the perceived importance of other items on your list, while also instilling a sense of accomplishment in knowing that you have fulfilled a significant obligation.

Enhance Productivity through Task Grouping

You can increase your productivity and efficiency by grouping tasks together. For example, when your students submit their spelling tests, it is helpful to grade them collectively rather than sporadically throughout the day. The most effective approach to increasing efficiency is to allocate specific blocks of time during your school day dedicated to focusing on specific tasks one at a time. For instance, after lunch, when your students are engaged in activities like art, gym, or computer lab, you can utilize this time to grade papers, respond to emails, or prepare lessons. Once you complete one task, you can move on to the next, steadily checking off items on your to-do list.

Remember, you have control over your actions. If you want to ensure that your tasks are completed at school, allowing you to enjoy your social life at home, it is crucial to finish them during school hours. This means that if you encounter interruptions while working on a task, you have the authority to politely request the person to “wait a minute” until you finish your current task. This approach isn’t impolite; it is simply a means of maintaining efficiency.

Limit Working After School Hours

Make an effort to accomplish your tasks within school hours, avoiding the need to take work home. You can achieve this by designing a well-structured schedule and allocating specific time slots for each task, maximizing your productivity during work hours. Staying organized is key especially when utilizing technology to streamline tasks, such as utilizing apps and computer programs which can save you valuable time. Additionally, collaborating with fellow teachers and delegating non-urgent tasks to assistants or support staff can further enhance efficiency and free up more time for your personal life outside of school.

Learn to Say No

Prioritize your well-being and establish a work-life balance by learning to just say no! When additional commitments arise, think about if they will align with your current responsibilities and future goals. If you feel they do not, politely decline and communicate that you will help with the next task because you already have too much on your plate. Learning to say no to non-essential tasks or responsibilities doesn’t make you a bad person, it just helps you to create a healthier work-life balance.

Prioritizing teaching tasks will help you cultivate a rewarding social life outside of the classroom. By implementing a ranking system, grouping tasks together, limiting taking work home with you, and learning to say no to additional responsibilities, you will effectively create a healthier work-life balance.

Educators never stop learning; check out our available graduate degree programs  to hone your skills and promote lifelong learning and academic excellence.

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A lot has happened in ten years including the evolution in education. In 2013, the Boston Marathon bomb attack occurred, President Barack Obama began his second term in office, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, The Big Bang Theory was the number one non-sports show on TV, Time Magazine’s Person of the Year was Pope Francis, and I had just completed my first year in administration after ten years of teaching.

As you can see, much has changed in ten years, and what does it mean for the classroom? Below is a list of the top changes in the last decade a group of educators with over ten years of teaching experience has lived through.

Technology

When I left the classroom in 2012, I left behind ten years of teaching technology applications at the middle school level in a larger-than-average district in Texas. At the end of the semester, my students and others in the district at my level were producing short videos of their own, building basic budgets in Microsoft Excel, and definitely knew how to save and find documents on the computer. There are many districts now across the country that would laugh and scoff at this as now many eighth graders are making short animations and coding on a regular basis. This is just one example of how technology in the classroom has changed.

Mobile Classroom Games

The access to using technology in the classroom has changed dramatically. Many one-to-one districts now exist; the internet is at millions of students’ fingertips daily. Many games and programs used daily in the classroom (Kahoot, Gimkit, etc.) have allowed teachers to add content to online games for student learning. These games can be played on Chromebooks and every teacher’s favorite: the students’ cell phones.

iPads, LCD Projectors, and Smart Boards

Ten years ago, we thought iPad carts, LCD projectors and Smart Boards were the wave of the future. Schools spent countless dollars putting iPads in the hands of our students. We downloaded apps that students could use for exploration and apps they could use for remediation. The problem with iPads was that students had a lot of temptation of using them for gaming more than education purposes. Also, iPads are not super sturdy on their own (in many states, they are classified as consumables). Lastly, younger students often needed help typing on the spaced-out keypads. There are ways that have been developed to improve these issues over the years.

Smart Boards and LCD projectors allowed teachers to project computer screens on touchscreens so anyone could manipulate the visuals. The problem was that the bulbs did not last long, the boards would need calibration on a regular basis, and only a few students at a time could actively participate in the lesson.

Chromebooks

Now we have interactive flat panel monitors and Chromebooks. The interactive flat panels (IFPs) do not need calibration since the display comes from inside the monitor and not from a projector. In fact, many of the IFPs have internal CPUs so they do not even need to be hard wired to a desktop computer. Multiple sources and visuals can be pulled up on the screen at one time and students can use their Chromebooks to interact with the monitor by logging onto sites such as Pear Deck.

Chromebooks have benefited from the invention of the Cloud for storage purposes. Much like the iPads, Chromebooks do not contain a hard drive so saving information on them is not an option, but students can use virtual storage to save important work assignments and resources. In fact, using the Cloud is an excellent storage option because students can now log on to different computers and continue their work because they can access the Cloud from anywhere.

Chromebooks really proved their worth during the pandemic. With millions of students learning from home, many districts equipped the kids with Chromebooks so school could continue through distance learning. Teachers could use learning management systems like Schoology and Canvas to create classroom pages with Zoom links, resources, and student assignments. This practice allowed classes to continue to meet virtually so the school could continue even if our buildings were closed.

In the classroom, teachers are now thrust into helping students apply, measure the validity of the information, and process the information coming at them at all angles. In some ways teachers have moved from providing the information to allowing students to find the information on their own and then facilitating the processing of said information.

Every teacher that was included in this non-scientific survey and many articles on Google covering this topic had technology as the number one factor in the evolution of the classroom in the last decade.

School Security/Mental Health

From 2009 to 2018, American schools saw 356 shooting victims. Since 2018, there have been even more. This has brought about the redesign of many schools, practices, and school budgets as school safety has become more of a concern for many good reasons.

How schools, parents, legislators, and communities look at the practice of providing safety for staff and students has evolved into more of a priority than ever before.

This also relates to the mental state of our students. America’s Health Rankings of Women and Children report that suicides in adolescents ages 15-19 have risen 29% over the previous decade.

Our school counselors, administrators, and staff likely have all now had some training on how to spot mental health issues and then how to discuss those issues with students…and sometimes even between staff members.

Schools have had to become first responders to mental issues and develop their own protective measures for physical and mental safety.

COVID-19 Pandemic

A ten-year review of education is not complete without a discussion on the effects of COVID-19 pandemic. One positive effect of the pandemic was that after students went home for a few months, the value of the in-person teacher was raised exponentially. Data from around the nation showed that students without a teacher in the classroom were nowhere near as successful as when the students were in the classroom. Many states went as far as to pass legislation to help curb the “COVID slide.”

A negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was the number of teachers that left the classroom and have not yet been replaced by new teachers coming into the profession. In the past three years every state in the nation has seen less teachers apply for jobs and finding them in some cases simply just has not happened. In the last three years, more schools have opened the school year with more long terms than in recent history. Granted the access to online school has helped students stay on track for graduation, but nothing has fully replaced the in-person teacher.

On that note, the access to online school has pulled more students away from the classroom, and some have not come back as some parents have chosen to keep their students at home online to complete their schooling. A few of these students have benefited from less anxiety at home, but many others have capitalized on the convenience factor of on-line education.

Student Collaboration

Nothing sends shivers down the spines of high-performing students like the words “group work.” When I started teaching 23 years ago, I loved coming up with assignments that required my students to get together in a group and work on a large project. In my naive mind, I thought the students would come together, divide the workload, and end up with a product that really represented the hard work of each member of the group.

What happened all too often was that one or two students would end up doing the work for the whole group. They knew all members would receive the same grade and did not want a poor work ethic from some to doom the grade for all. I was very creative in my Social Studies class with these assignments.

Some of my group work activities required students to assemble as a news team and report on a historical event or they would find a way to solve a problem in the real world such as low voter turnout. Not to say these ideas were bad, but I was missing the boat when it came to the structure. This problem has long plagued classroom teachers. As I awkwardly tried to coax students into getting along and working together, Dr. Spencer Kagan was literally writing the book on cooperative learning.

He and his colleagues had come up with several different structures that required students in groups to be held accountable for their roles and responsibilities. Over the last ten years, we have seen a remarkable shift from group work to cooperative learning.

More Student-Centered Classrooms

I mentioned earlier that in 2013, I had completed my first year as an administrator. At the same time, the state of Texas rolled out a new evaluation system, T-TESS.

T-TESS was an improvement on the PDAS system that existed before in that T-TESS is focused on continual improvement and finding specific ways teachers can find to help students grow based on learning standards.

But another improvement was the evaluation of how much a teacher was involving student talk and activities in the class. One educator in our discussion cited the decline of the lecture due to evaluation systems, more information at students’ fingertips, and more project-based learning.

What a ride it has been for the last ten years…makes one wonder what the next ten years will bring. We can know for sure that in education, changes are constant. That is why we as educators must never forget that the goal is the continuous education of our students every year. That is why we are here in the first place!

Educators never stop learning; check out our available graduate degree programs  to hone your skills and promote lifelong learning and academic excellence.

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What is a Flipped Classroom?

A flipped classroom is one in which the traditional sequencing of lesson presentation is flipped, making better use of the class time we have with our students.

In a traditional classroom, teachers use class time for lectures or direct instruction to present new material. Then, students spend time at home practicing or reviewing that information alone. The old model of students sitting quietly and working independently is not always the best option. Think about it…students can do that at home! Why use valuable class time for something that requires no interaction? Use it to promote deeper learning.

In the flipped classroom, students are exposed to the new material before class time, often in the form of video lessons. Then, in class students can be actively engaged in discussion or activities with other students during which the teacher can facilitate, monitor progress, and check for understanding within student learning.

While video lectures have become common in the flipped classroom format, there are other activities that students can participate in at home prior to their class time to prepare. Some of these include:

• Reviewing online course material
• Participating in online discussion
• Performing research
• Reading digital or physical texts

After students have spent time before class in their preparation activities, they are then prepared for classroom activities, such as:

• Skill practice guided and/or monitored by the teacher
• Face-to-face discussions with peers
• Debate
• Presentations
• Center learning
• Lab experiments
• Peer assessments

What are the Benefits of a Flipped Classroom?

Efficiency

By allowing students to watch, listen to, or read the lecture/direct instruction before class time, teachers are able to facilitate activities during class time, in which they can then monitor students’ understanding, making much better use of time.

Flexibility 

As listed above, there are many different ways to implement the flipped classroom. You have a great deal of flexibility in the types of activities students can participate in before and during class.

High-Level Learning

I’m sure you’ve heard: “The one doing the talking is the one doing the learning.” A group of U.K. researchers did a cumulative study of over 70 different studies including over 7000 students regarding the importance of on-task talking and its importance in learning. In these studies, the researchers found that consistently, the more students participated in discussions with peers the better they performed. Furthermore, they found that students were even more likely to perform at a higher level when the discussion was with an adult. This is a far higher level of learning than listening to a lecture and doing homework.

Homework

I know this can be a highly debated topic, but the research on homework shows that it doesn’t always work. Students can get stuck and frustrated working on their own. Sometimes, parental support may confuse students because of new or changing methods they may not be aware of. In the flipped classroom, the only homework students are doing is their preparation activities.

Varying Grade-Levels

Of course, we can see how easily adaptable this method is in high school, middle school, and even upper elementary. In primary grades however, it may be a little more tricky, but definitely can be done. Giving parents some direct-instruction tips on a phonics or math skill to do for “homework” the night before, will allow you to do a discussion or group activity the following day without time spent on direct-instruction.

Flipped Classroom Challenges to Be Aware Of

As with any new approach that seems to be the best of all worlds, there are without a doubt some challenges that one must be aware of.

Lack of Preparation 

Students are always more or less motivated to do any outside work to prepare for class. Find ways to keep students accountable for that pre-class preparation and reward those that are prepared.

It may require the teacher to get creative in encouraging particularly withdrawn or shy students to be more involved. This could be as simple as putting this type of student in with a group of especially compassionate and understanding students rather than more competitive and outspoken students.

Also, if the teacher stays with a group that struggles with participation, they can facilitate discussion by prompting and asking questions to promote flipped classroom motivation and engagement.

Limited Access

As you may have noticed, many of the activities that students would participate in before class at home are dependent on access to technology such as computers and internet access. For students in some areas, this may be an issue. If students do not have this kind of access and the school or district cannot provide that access, this would be a serious hindrance to this learning method.

As with any method of instruction, there are pros and cons. Just remember, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Try incorporating some of these flipped classroom ideas into your classroom.

However you look at it and choose to use it, there’s no doubt that the flipped classroom method helps you to maximize your limited classroom time in order to make the most out of your time with your students.

Teachers never stop learning; check out our available graduate degree programs  to hone your skills and promote lifelong learning and academic excellence.

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What Is a Teaching Philosophy?

A teaching philosophy is a personal statement as to your core beliefs about teaching and learning. It discusses your view on teaching and how to apply that to a teaching environment. A teaching philosophy answers the question: “Why do I teach?”

How Your Teaching Philosophy Can Guide You

Your teaching philosophy can guide you by simply directing your instruction and the way you handle classroom management types of situations. It will be a part of how you plan your lessons, how you deliver your instruction, your analysis of formal and informal data, and how you reflect and enhance your teaching style.

Learning is a lifelong process, and a great educator will constantly be learning. Continuously creating new knowledge and finding new teaching methodologies define lifelong learning for an educator. Your teaching philosophy also provides you with clearly defined goals and a “sense of direction” in what you do day-to-day in your classroom. Even if you are not reading through your teaching philosophy frequently, it is always on your mind because it is your purpose for teaching.

Developing Your Teaching Philosophy

A teaching philosophy is not a one-and-done deal. Your teaching philosophy will change as you grow and reflect as an educator. This live document will change frequently as you gain more experience and knowledge throughout your career.

When beginning to outline your teaching philosophy, you want to be sure to break it into an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Your teaching philosophy should be written in first person because it is your philosophy! Use statements such as, “I believe a student-centered approach to teaching is integral to student success” versus a statement such as, “It is important to use a student-centered approach to teaching.”

Another important tip when crafting your teaching philosophy is to focus on your current experience and views. Try to stay away from what you wish to achieve in the future. You also want to grab the reader’s attention. Using the KISS principle, “Keep it simple, stupid” is important, as utilizing advanced vocabulary does not make it a good, solid piece of writing. Of course, you want to include some education jargon, but don’t get too crazy. In one article I’ve read, it says to write it on the level an eighth-grade student could understand.

In the introduction you want to include an overview of your educational beliefs. Mentioning your teaching purpose is a great component to include, as well as your teaching methods, subject or pedagogical specialties, goals for students, and preferred assessment methods. An example of a statement to include in your introduction is, “I encourage engaged, creative, and abstract thinking by consistently utilizing student-centered learning activities.”

In the body, you will expand on everything you touched on in your introduction in greater detail. You will need to discuss how you will put all of your educational beliefs into practice. This would include different strategies and methods for teaching and evidence of those teaching methods.

There are various strategies and methods that can be included such as the role of technology, behavior management, parental/family involvement, the role of administration, incorporation of different instructional modes, and student feedback. You might write something such as, “I believe that self-reflection is important for not just myself, but my students. A reflection sheet at the end of the week is one way I was able to monitor my students’ efforts in a simple way.”

If you have any examples of challenges you have encountered on your teaching (or student-teaching) journey, it is a good idea to include that in the body of your statement. Don’t forget to include the way you solved the issue as well. For example, “I had a group of students that were struggling with their basic multiplication facts, and it was impeding their ability to solve more complex math problems. I implemented a center into my rotations where the focus was basic facts and over the course of three months, I saw significant growth in the group and the entire class. My scores were the highest in the building.”

In the conclusion of your teaching philosophy, you want to wrap up all the ideas you mentioned throughout your statement. Be sure to circle back to what you consider to be the purpose of teaching. You want to leave a lasting impression on the reader where they feel moved with what you have written. Including some details of what make you unique as a teacher, and what makes you stand out in a crowd, is a great piece to include in your conclusion. An example of a statement that you might include in your conclusion is, “I pride myself on making students feel welcome and important in my classroom. The greatest compliment I have received from a student is that my classroom makes them feel like they can be who they truly are.”

The great Phil Collins once said, “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” Your teaching philosophy is how you define yourself as an educator, but as you teach more, and learn more, it will evolve through time. Reflection is important, not just for teaching, but life, so a teaching philosophy that evolves over time, is one that is truly meaningful.

Teachers never stop learning; check out our available graduate degree programs  to hone your skills and promote lifelong learning and academic excellence.

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Finding Your Weakness to Improve Upon

If your goal is to grow and become a better teacher, you must take a moment to figure out what aspects of yourself and your career as an educator you are weak in. Once you learn what those are, you can then do away with them and learn to focus more on your strengths as a teacher.

Here are a few suggestions on how you can identify your weaknesses and how to become better and improve over time:

Ask Someone to Observe You

The first step to figuring out your weaknesses is asking someone. This can be difficult for many people because you’re going to have to sit and have someone pick apart your work. However, you must remember you are doing this to help you grow as a teacher so must be ready to listen to constructive criticism.

Invite a colleague or a mentor to observe you in your classroom. Ask them to fill out an observation checklist, just as you would if your supervisor was observing you. This will help them give you specific feedback in multiple areas. If possible, ask multiple people to observe you so you can get a range of different opinions. The more feedback you get, the more you’ll learn about yourself. For example, when I was observed as a student teacher, I learned I only taught to the students in the front of the classroom. I also learned that I was too soft-spoken and didn’t command the classroom. While I didn’t realize I was doing this at the time, after my observation, I was able to change my behavior and, over time, gain confidence.

Give Up Your Weak Habits

You may be unaware but some of your weaknesses may be out of habit. For example, when I was observed I learned that I always compared students to one another. After some self-reflection, I realized that this was something I did both in and outside of the classroom, it was a habit that I was completely unaware of. I learned from this feedback that we don’t really know or understand what others are going through when they aren’t in our classroom. Just because one student may be lazy and not want to do the work doesn’t mean that all students that aren’t doing the work are lazy, they may have something going on at home.

Take some time to sit and think about how you behave as a teacher. Ask yourself, “What is my behavior like when I am in the classroom? What is it like when I am outside of the classroom?” “Is it different?” Write down anything that you think may be considered a weak habit as well as how you can go about changing that.

Gain a Different Perspective

Sometimes all it takes to figure out your weakness as a teacher is to simply gain a different point of view, and who better to ask than your students! If you think about it, your students are the ones who see you every day and as you know they have a lot of opinions. While they may not be as educated as a teacher or have the foresight, they do know what works for them and what does not. If you don’t want them to hold back, then ask them to write down their thoughts anonymously. Not only is this a great way to get unfiltered feedback that you may not have received if they had their name on it, but it will also help you from thinking differently towards a student if they shared feedback that you found hurtful or offensive.

Jot Down What You Can Improve

Create a list of things that you are not good at or that you don’t enjoy doing in the classroom. The reason for this is that usually, the things that you don’t like to do are also the things that you’re weak at. If you constantly procrastinate the same thing every single day this is a signal that it’s something you need to work on. To help you improve at these things, try taking one weakness from your list to work on each week. Eventually, with patience and time, it’ll get easier.

While discovering your weaknesses may not sound like much fun, it’s a great way to help you better understand yourself as a person as well as grow as a teacher. Once you discover your weaknesses, you can reach out to your colleagues who are good in those areas and learn from them. When you try your best to turn your weaknesses into strengths, not only will you benefit, but your students will as well.

Teachers never stop learning; check out our available graduate degree programs  to hone your skills and promote lifelong learning and academic excellence.

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What is Co-Teaching? 

Co-teaching, by definition, is a process whereby at least two teachers work together in lesson planning, instruction, and assessment of a group of students. Generally, the co-teachers work with one group of students at a time.

What are the Benefits of Co-Teaching?

The benefits of co-teaching are multiple. As stated above, co-teachers collaborate in every facet of education for a particular group of students. This collaboration allows for merging ideas and thought processes of two professional educators with one common goal. That goal is the best educational outcome for a particular group of students.

Not only does co-teaching allow for collaboration, but it also allows for more “one on one” time for individual students’ needs. Co-teaching also allows for a seamless transition from one objective to another, as teachers can simply trade places into a new subject area. 

Further, co-teaching allows one teacher to step out of the room without sacrificing student safety and monitoring. One teacher can easily go and make copies or pick up something to enhance student learning while the students are safe and sound and continuing to be on the current task. 

The old saying, “two heads are better than one” definitely applies in the area of co-teaching. Co-teachers can put their heads together in planning for future lessons. By collaborating in this way, co-teachers can be sure that they are giving their students the best possible lesson every time.

Co-teacher planning also helps by having frank discussions about what didn’t go well in a lesson and how to correct that for the future. Additionally, teachers can share the responsibility of direct instruction by co-teaching throughout the day. This realm of teaching can and does keep lessons fresh and hopefully inviting to the students throughout the day. It is also important as a “non-direct” teacher can monitor and help keep wayward students on task without stopping the lesson for correction.

Likewise, co-teaching helps in the assessment process by having another set of eyes on students during any assessment process. Again, as state earlier, while assessing students, there is also double the opportunity to help students with questions during the assessment phase.

Do Certain Grade-Levels Utilize Co-Teaching More than Others?

While co-teaching can be beneficial at any grade level and with any subject matter, some groups utilize this process more than others. Funding for co-teaching can be an issue, so over the years, schools utilize it where they see the most benefit can be had.

Younger grades, like lower elementary and special education have seen the most use of the concept. These are two areas that arguably would have the greatest need for multiple professionals in the classroom. 

Elementary School

Younger elementary students are learning basic skills that of course will build forward in the students’ educational career. Elementary school is the perfect time to have as many professionals with direct hands-on coverage as is possible. It has been well documented that younger students benefit greatly with as much one on one and small group activity as they can get.

Co-teaching allows for this in all aspects of the classroom. Additionally, it can also reduce the occasionally present personality conflicts that do arise from time to time. Often, a student with a conflict with one teacher, may flourish with the help of the other teacher.

Special Education

Special education is another area where co-teaching is used frequently. In fact, through the advent of “inclusion” in classrooms today, there is often a regular education teacher and a special education teacher in the same classroom. This sets up a natural co-teaching situation. While the special education teacher is primarily in the classroom for the special education students, they can also help with other students as well.

This co-teaching situation is a “win-win” for all students. This also helps alleviate the stigma attached to special education students in the regular classroom setting. Having a special education teacher co-teaching with all students provides a situation where all are helped, and none are left behind.

Co-teaching is a concept that creates a positive classroom flow and can greatly enhance the educational process. Teachers that are teaching collaboratively can help all students. This can help to reach all students where they are and help to grow them. Remembering that student growth in all areas of a student’s life should always be our first and foremost goal. Co-teaching gives us yet another avenue to help ensure educational growth of all of our students. On a smaller scale, the saying, “it takes a village to raise a child” definitely rings true for co-teaching. 

Teachers never stop learning; check out our available graduate degree programs in teaching to hone your skills and promote lifelong learning and academic excellence.

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At the undergraduate level, financial aid is primarily based on the income of you and your parents. At the graduate level, income plays essentially no role in what you may be eligible for. Additionally, your FAFSA (the application for Federal Financial Aid) doesn’t even include your parent’s information anymore.

Undergraduate Financial Aid

Undergraduate financial aid focuses primarily on “need-based” programs and a plethora of grants and scholarships whose primary criteria is your family’s income. Some of these programs might include things like the Federal Pell Grant or the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) and many types of state and private grants.

Additionally, because most undergraduate students attend college full time and take part in many types of campus services (such as housing, meal plans, student government and organizations, etc.) the costs for an undergraduate program are very different than that of a graduate program. Typically, the overall costs of completing your bachelor’s degree are significantly more expensive than completing your master’s degree (the exception are things like a law or medical degree, or similar professional-level graduate programs).

Graduate School Financial Aid

Meanwhile, at the graduate level, most financial aid programs don’t require any particular income or financial need. This is mostly because there are relatively few grant and scholarship programs in comparison to undergraduate degree programs. However, there are many positive parts to graduate financial aid.

First of all, at the undergraduate level, the loan limits and ability to finance your degree are highly limited. At the graduate level, however, you will have the ability to fund your program in full through both Federal Unsubsidized Loans and Federal Graduate PLUS loans. This means you will not need to make payments toward your bill (unless you want to). Additionally, the costs tend to be lower, as most graduate programs are for working adults who are going to school part time. This means that for most students, the costs of going to graduate school and the financial aid process are much easier and provide greater flexibility than at the undergraduate level.

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Tuition Reimbursement

First of all, you may be surprised to know that many school districts and employers are offering tuition reimbursement or tuition benefits for teachers or professionals who wish to obtain an advanced degree. Tuition reimbursement, or tuition benefits, are typically administered by your human resources office and can pay for a portion of your doctorate. Sometimes these benefits require you attend a specific college or to continue to work in the district after you complete your degree, so it’s important to check with your HR office prior to enrolling to understand what your district offers.

In many cases, your district will send the money directly to your school on your behalf, but in some cases, they may pay you the money after you complete the semester and submit proof of your grades. In either case, make sure to let your college know what type of benefits you may be using so they can help you in getting your classes paid for by your employer.

Federal Student Loans

Another of the most common options for paying for your doctorate degree are Federal Student Loans. At the graduate level, federal student loans are simpler to qualify for and are more flexible than at the undergraduate level. Based on the information on your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), you could qualify for a Federal Direct Unsubsidized loan of up to $20,500 per year. These loans are at a low interest rate, require no payments while you are in school, and have no credit or income stipulations. Additionally, once you graduate, there are several programs that you may qualify for that mean your remaining loan balance could be “forgiven” (aka eliminated!).

Direct Graduate PLUS Loans

If you have already borrowed the maximum you can receive in Direct Unsubsidized Loans, you can qualify for Direct Graduate PLUS loans as well. A Direct Graduate PLUS loan is another type of federal student loan, and similar to the Unsubsidized Loan, it does not require payments while you are in school.

In order to qualify, you would need to submit your FAFSA online at and complete a secondary application. You would log in using the same credentials as you used on your FAFSA, and complete the loan application for Graduate PLUS loans. The application should take less than five minutes to complete, and you will receive a decision instantly. These loans do not require income verification, and you can receive them even if your credit is less than perfect. In fact, it’s one of the easiest loans to qualify for, and provides borrowers with all the protections and repayment options that all other federal loans provide.

Regardless of how you decide to pay for your doctoral degree, the single most important part is to have a solid plan to complete your dissertation on time. By completing it on time, you will save yourself thousands of dollars in extra costs, fees, and accrued interest. Planning for your dissertation phase, and committing to completing it on time, will save the average student almost $10,000.

With all these options available, now is the time to make an investment in yourself and your future and pursue your doctorate.

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