The loan forgiveness program for educators has been a disaster. I know lots of educators who have made their payments, put in their 10 years only to find out that their loans were not eligible (this can be a whole thread in it self).
Counselors have a higher starting salary than teachers. You must have a masters degree in order to get licensed. Teachers, usually have 5 years to get 3 years experience and a masters to get professional certification.
@aunt_bea Unless you are already teaching and getting a Masters in school counseling as a second credential having a teaching credential with your counseling degree will not make you more marketable. It will give you the option of if you are looking for a teaching position or a school counselor position. Get the counseling degree and if you have to get extra credits to get the salary boost (which you most likely will- get it in leadership, supervision or building administration- with the goal of becoming an administrator (perhaps AP of Counseling) in 7-10 years). In addition if you already have tenure in your license area as a teacher, you start the process all over again when you become a counselor (you are untenured in this license area and have the lowest seniority).
@catmom1-Counseling is a great job, but it isn’t super competitive and doesn’t pay that well.
In many parts of the country there is a shortage of counselors, in NYC it is a very competitive because there has been a freeze for almost over a decade (first year counselors straight out of school in NYC start with $63,905, students who complete 60 credit masters start with 71,374 - probably pretty comparable salary in Ca). Sorry, no school is going to hire a counselor at the expense of a teacher. In times of a budget cuts, extra counselors will always be excessed before teachers.
Look at the course offerings at each school (you want cross-cultural and culturally relevant counseling, restorative justice, trauma informed counseling, data)
The most important thing will be a rich internship experience.
She should work her internship like a job (you are short changing yourself, if you are only going to do the minimum number of hours to meet your licensing requirement). Take it as a 10 month job interview because if there is going to be any movement at your school, you want to be the person that someone has to knock out of the box to get the job. for the DOE to be large organizations, they are incestuously small. It is very important to know how to start and end the school year.
Make sure that her cooperating counselor gives her mandated counseling students to work with (that is the real basis for getting and keeping a job).
Don’t forget the real purpose for having school counselors is to provide related services counseling as part of the IEP. How the student’s social emotional is effecting the academics. Learn how to read an IEP like the back of your hand.
If she thinks that all she will do is sit in her office and chop it up with kids asking “and how does that make you feel” pick another profession. She is going to become very quickly jaded with the amount of paperwork and accountability that comes with the job.
The big takeaway for next few years is going to be the ability to do SEL, and develop school wide programs supporting SEL along with creating and executing a comprehensive counseling plan that aligns with ASCA.
No, they do not teach college counseling advising in your grad program. You learn it at your internship (if at a high school placement and you can be with the people who are doing it or on the job).
I think that students are always looking for the “best internships at the good schools.” You will probably have to wait for some one to retire or die before you can get a job there.
You don’t know where you will be placed, if you are going to be part of a 10 person team or the only counselor in the building and sometimes have to go where the job is.
The richest experiences come from the most challenging environments (Title I schools, working with children who are overaged/under credited, chronic attendance issues, food insecurity, IEPs, doing BIPs/FBAs, learning how to do data driven counseling, assessments, case conferencing and placements). If you are learning how to deal with the challenging things in your internship where you are getting the help advice, the rest of it will be a cake walk.
Hope this helps