The price to become a teacher

Schools of education were created at American colleges and universities for the purpose of preparing future teachers. Although the mission has expanded over the years to include other activities, such as preparing future leaders, counselors, researchers, etc., training teachers was first and foremost the reason why schools of education were created. In fact, the preparation of teachers was deemed to be so important that at many land-grant universities (including our neighbor and rival UCLA), teacher preparation was at the core of the mission that justified the founding of the university itself.

At many elite universities, especially private universities like USC, the future of teacher education is imperiled by the rising cost of education. Sadly, students who enroll in our Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program pay as much in tuition per year as any other student at USC, even though they will earn considerably less than most students after graduation if they remain in the teaching profession (and we hope they will). As of fall 2024, our MAT students will pay a total of $62,816 in tuition, $1,811 in fees and $1,079 to $1,648 in additional credential fees for a total of approximately $66,000. Bear in mind that this does not include the cost of housing, food and transportation, which on average can cost an additional $3,000 per month. If our MAT graduates choose to teach in the Los Angeles Unified School District, they can expect to earn a starting salary of $68,965 per year.

Although we offer a limited amount of financial aid, many of our students are compelled to take out loans to finance their education. The average student loan payment is $600 per month. This means that many of our students will be saddled with a debt-to-income ratio of 30–40%. Given the high cost of living in L.A. and California generally, this is an excessive burden for a young person to bear.

In the past few years, we have taken great strides to address this problem by creating a teacher residency program. The residency gets our students working in schools as student teachers as soon as they enroll in our program. The program covers the cost of tuition, and with support from participating districts and the Ednovate charter network, each student is provided with a living stipend of $35,000 per year. We are thrilled that with the generous support of our donors, for the past two years we have been able to offer three-fourths of our MAT students this type of support. However, all of our students deserve scholarships like these, and we are concerned that our fundraising efforts will not be adequate or sustainable.

At USC Rossier, we believe that preparing future teachers must remain central to our mission. We ensure that the training they receive is excellent, and we take pride in the fact that many our graduates—including Barbara Rossier EdD ’71 and Roger Rossier MA ’63, EdD ’72, whose generous gift of $20 million gave our school its name—go on to lead distinguished careers as educators. We are committed to continuing this work and building on our proud legacy.

We know that no one pursues a career in teaching to get rich. Most of our students do so motivated by the noblest of ideals: They seek to ensure that future generations will be equipped with an education that will enable them to support themselves and their families, while simultaneously strengthening our democracy. Many choose to work with vulnerable children in economically marginal communities. Please give generously to support USC Rossier’s future teachers. They deserve our support. Our schools and society are better off because they have chosen to work in this noble but undervalued profession.