Tales from a School Psychologist

This essay is from a finalist for the 2019 Student Loan Planner® Scholarship.

This is a story of good fortune and timely decisions that led an aimless high school student to a career in school psychology.

When I was a junior in high school, I was told that I needed college, period. Not that I needed to consider what I wanted to do with my life, or explore professional opportunities that appealed to me, just that I should apply to a school that I could get into and go there. So, I did.

At that point in my life I had barely survived high school but believed college was the only next step.

I applied to UConn, got accepted (with the help of a few phone calls from my school counselor) and shipped out to Storrs, CT in August of 2003.

The Cost of Learning

I will spare you the expanded story, but the gist is that I got there, took classes, bumbled through them, learned I had no idea how to be a student, and luckily adapted quickly.

The freedom to learn what I wanted when I wanted was hard but changed my perspective on education fundamentally. I majored in psychology and spent 4 great years learning, playing saxophone in the marching band, celebrating, and traveling.

All the while I was taking out a huge amount in loans each year to fund this personal epic, and really didn’t know what that meant.

If you do the napkin math, it was well over a yearly salary of most jobs I knew of at the time, plus interest. I was not so lucky as to get many scholarships or subsidized loans as my parents “made enough to pay out of pocket,” according to FAFSA (not considering their other debts or hardships).

So, fast-forward to the end of senior year, getting love letters from lenders, making what was once an abstraction a terrifying reality. Not to mention I had majored in psychology because “I found it interesting and I had a passion.”

I had no idea what to do, how I was going to pay back those loans, or what jobs I could get… clearly mistakes were made.

Now I’m not saying it isn’t my responsibility to own the situation I put myself in, but I can’t emphasize enough how easy it was to pretend it wasn’t real until it was. I missed out on the personal finance lessons I was apparently supposed to have had.

However, luckily, during this career soul search I had a friend who in passing said to me “why don’t you look into being a school therapist, you know the guy at school who helps sad kids feel better (school psychologist).”

I had no idea what that entailed, but it sounded like a plan with a real job and a reliable paycheck at the other end. The next day I booked it over to the school of education, chatted up some professors, and before I knew it, I was an aspiring educational psychologist.

Finding a Career I Love

I fell in love with my career almost immediately. It evoked within me all of the positive emotions that I had as a struggling middle and high school student working with support staff, but this time I was the one paying it forward and getting paid for it.

The sense of satisfaction and fulfillment was unlike anything I had felt before at work. I had a job that had me up at 5:45 am and I couldn’t wait to get there.

I look back now and take in how lucky I am that I made that choice when I did and that it happened to just be a perfect job for me. Things could have been catastrophically different. But now I had both undergraduate loans and graduate loans… and an educator’s paycheck.

If I had to ball-park where my loans were when I graduated, I’d say probably say entry-level doctor’s salary? I was all ready for my job in public education, but would it let me pay back my loans?

Yeah, well not so much initially… but this is where the real learning started.

Navigating Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

I was researching everything about student loans, laws, forgiveness, forbearances, consolidation, and any other student loan buzzword you could think of, better late than never. I was reading website after website and finally stumbled upon the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

I read all about it, but at the time there were some ambiguities. I worried PSLF didn’t apply to me since the financial aid office at the time said that it didn’t (one instance of bad information from people I was supposed to trust).

I kept reading and reading, and I called every number, asked questions, called back asked the same questions again to see if I got the same answers. Eventually, I accepted that PSLF was after all my best course of action and did, in fact, apply to me.

I had just started my new job, so I printed my documents, started the paperwork, certified my employment, made sure I had Direct Consolidation Loans, and that I was on a qualifying income-based repayment plan (IBR for me, didn’t qualify for PAYE or REPAYE).

After completing all of these tasks and settling in with my buddy FedLoan, I was glad to see that my monthly payments went from the staggering 10 Year Standard payment to a more manageable income-based payment. The sense of satisfaction I felt knowing I had researched this thoroughly was a huge relief.

So, here I am in a career I love, with a payment plan I can afford, and a sense of hope that after my years of service are done I’ll have earned the right to be free of my debt and have contributed to my community and the lives of many kiddos who may be in the same spot I was in 15 years ago.

I still need to consider where each dollar goes, but it just feels like it’s actually doable now.

Know Your Costs Before Jumping In

The advice I’d give to anyone currently in or looking at a psychology career is to first decide what kind of work you want to do and then pay for the training and education to get you there, in that order.

I firmly believe that career exploration should be a priority before and during your post-secondary education. Whether that education is a traditional 4-year college, trade school, certificate program, or any other learning that costs money.

Know what you’re paying for before doing so. Especially if you are exploring careers in the humanities, a notoriously nebulous field. A well-defined career vision can help you avoid the unnecessary expense that comes with making up for lost time.

Many of those pesky GenEd credits can be dealt with at a community college and then you can transfer to finish at whatever institution works best.

It could save you literally thousands, if not tens of thousands, to shop smart for those basic credits, and you really won’t be missing out if you make it a priority to get involved and stretch out of your comfort zone.

Psychology is a tough professional world to be in or get a job in these days. It almost always requires a Ph.D. unless you want to get into very particular and often narrow domains limited in the scope of practice. So, know you’re in it for the long haul and every dollar you can save is worth considering.

If you like psychology but aren’t sure you want a Ph.D., consider specialist-level school psychology. While I got my Ph.D. because I was offered a great opportunity to finish the last 2 years of my program with financial support, you can be certified with just a master's degree plus several additional credits/fieldwork.

In the end I bumbled through what could have been a disastrously under planned college education, but I came out the other end happy due to a little luck, timely decisions, and a boat load of research and support from loved ones.

College Isn't the Only Option

I promise it’ll be a happier and less stressful experience if you have an idea of where you want to end up before you start.

The traditional full 4 years at one college experience isn’t for everyone, and that is okay, it doesn’t have to be and really wasn’t intended to be.

If you’re still in high school talk to your school counselor about career exploration, and if you’re out of high school or have already gone through a program and you just aren’t happy with your career, take the time to explore the jobs you might actually love to do, that pay what you want, and that require the level of education you are willing to pursue.

Then once you know, you can consider a change with greater confidence. Life shouldn’t be spent paying someone back for something that doesn’t make you happy.

I hope this offers even just a smidge of support and/or encouragement in your future learning and career pursuits, or if nothing else a few minutes of cathartic entertainment.

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