Financial Reasons Teachers Should Get Their Masters

Greetings Fellow Teachers,

Obviously, teachers don't go into the profession with the aim of high wages, but I wanted to do a quick fiscal comparison of teacher salaries with a Bachelor's Degree vs Master's Degree. If you are pretty sure you want to be a career teacher (or even think you'll continue at least 5 years after completing a Masters), it is greatly in your financial interest to complete a Graduate Degree.  Masters programs cost around $25,000, and pay for themselves in 3-4 years. A teacher with a Masters will earn hundreds of thousands more dollars than a teacher with only a Bachelors in their career. If you see yourself in the profession long term, go get it.

Years Teaching	Bachelors	Masters
5	38359	46302
6	39546	47490
7	40737	48681
8	41923	49869
9	43111	51058
10	44299	52244
11	45488	53432
12	46677	54622
13	47177	55122
14	47677	55622
15	48177	56122
16	48677	56622
17	49177	57122
18	49677	57622
19	50177	58122
20	50677	58622
21	51177	59122
22	51677	59622
23	52177	60122
24	52677	60622
25	53177	61122
26	53677	61622
27	54177	62122
28	54677	62622
29	55177	63122
30	55677	63622
Total	1,265,826	1,472,394

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I took these numbers off a 2010 union pay grid of a rural school in Minnesota. They'll be higher in urban areas.