Educate the Next Generation and Earn Money: Substitute Teaching | brokeGIRLrich
The other day I wrote about how mystery shopping won’t make you a millionaire, but today I wanted to write about a different side hustle that does have the potential to rake in some real cash – substitute teaching. If you work 9-5 Monday-Friday, you’re out of luck in this category, but if you have more leeway with your hours or work evenings and weekends, this could be a great side hustle for you.
What do you need to become a substitute teacher? That varies from state to state. I’ve subbed in two states, New Jersey and Virginia. In New Jersey you had to pass a background check, get fingerprinted, have a letter of recommendation and you must have completed 60 college credits. In my case, between AP courses in high school and a heavy course load my first semester of college, I had all the required things by my second semester of college. Usually, you’ll take that info to the county board of education to apply. In New Jersey, you have to get a substitute teaching license, which you obtain by turning in all those above documents and paying the fee $125. The average pay for a day substitute teaching was $90, but in some of the inner city areas it was as high as $120.
In Virginia, you needed the same things but instead of 60 college credits, you have to have a Bachelor’s degree (in anything). There was also no substitute teaching license that you had to pay for, but you did have to go to a full day orientation about how to be a substitute teacher, which was honestly quite helpful as someone with no teaching experience. I wish I’d started in Virginia first. On the flip side, the pay in Virginia starts around $59 a day.
Picture this:18 year old Mel going in to sub at the junior high school she had graduated from a whopping four and a half years earlier. I check in for my first day ever of substituting at the main office, am given an orientation packet and sent up to my homeroom. I call roll and send a kid down to the office with it. The TV comes on for the morning announcements, the kids all settle in and I crack open the orientation packet. About 2 pages into reading it, one kid starts screaming at another, the other throws his bookbag at the first, a fist fight starts, and kid number 1 picked up a desk and throws it at kid number 2 – all of this occurred within roughly 30 seconds. As I had not gotten to the page on fist fights in my orientation manual yet, I ran to the homeroom teacher next door – an actual trained professional – who helped me pry the kids apart and get them to the principal’s office. And that was my introduction to substitute teaching. I am totally prepared to referee professional wrestling matches now. Ugh. At least I made $90.
Except it was actually terrifying…
The cons to substitute teaching include inadequate training in many states. They pretty much just throw you in and you sink or swim. However, some states do have good orientation programs (such as Virginia, where we covered what to do in the event of a fight before ever stepping foot in a classroom). The money really does vary state by state, since I started subbing in New Jersey at $90 a day, I had very little patience for crazy children and crappy lesson plans in Virginia at $59 a day when I was in grad school. Oddly enough, you’d expect New Jersey kids to be worse (I would anyway), but the Virginia kids were way harder control. You’re also going to have to front some fees to get started, although the pay makes it worth it (finger printing and licensure in some states). I was never a fan of not really knowing if I’d be working that day, until a phone call woke me up at 5:30 AM. On top of this, several states require you to have a teaching license and specific degrees to even substitute teach, so this would not be a good side hustle in those states (like California). Although there do seem to often be ways around this, at least temporarily, if you have connections with the school board.
The main pro for me was flexibility. In Virginia the entire system was automated. I could enter what days I wanted to work and what grade levels I preferred or wouldn’t accept and the computer would call me at 5:30 AM if I got a job that day. If I didn’t want the job, I just wouldn’t pick up the phone (or I could’ve logged into the system and turned the notification off for that day). On the flip side, in New Jersey that system was a human being who got angry if you told her you could sub Tuesdays and then didn’t pick up the phone. I would have to call and leave a message on her answering machine the night before if I didn’t want to work the next day. But even that isn’t a big hassle, so I still think it was a pretty sweet job to be able to do at the top of summer vacation and during spring and winter break. The pay in New Jersey seemed good to me, and honestly, for cost of living in Virginia, the pay was good there too.
I also liked that I could pick which age groups I wanted to work with. I started out working them all, and when I needed the work, I would take any restrictions off my settings, but my ideal group was high schoolers. Most subs I’ve met either love the little kids or want the hassle free (usually) day with the older kids. I prefer the latter, but if you really like teaching, you’ll do more of it with the little kids. High school teachers leave tests and dittos, elementary school teachers usually assume you can read to kids, color, help them fill out basic math sheets (although whatever that new math stuff is… I never understood it), etc. so you get real lesson plans from them. Sometimes it makes the day pass a lot quicker.
If you’re interested in learning more about the qualifications to substitute teach in your state, you can check out this list of education requirements. A quick Google will give you even more info about your state substitute teaching programs.
In the meantime, put the money you already have to work a little better by checking out Robert G. Allen’s Multiple Streams of Income: How to Generate a Lifetime of Unlimited Wealth!
*Part of Financially Savvy Saturdays on Femme Frugality and Debt Discipline*
The flexibility is nice. Definitely the biggest perk. The pay is pretty lackluster though.
Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life recently posted…Love and Money: The Most Romantic Gift
Agreed. Although it does outpay quite a few other side hustles.
I am actually considering going in to full-time subbing. I have my license to teach in Illinois and am looking for some flexibility now that I have a business starting up, so subbing has been on the top of my list of potential jobs!
Michelle @fitisthenewpoor recently posted…How to Write a Love Letter
I think it’d be great for transitioning into your own business because of the flexibility, but at least in NJ and VA there are no benefits or anything, which would’ve made me nervous.
What a great, informative article. I have substitute certification in my state, but there seem to be very few opportunities to substitute here. Too many substitutes I think!
Pam recently posted…Pointed Pen Calligraphy–Encouragement and Resources for Beginners
Maybe, it does seem to vary hugely state to state. I heard recently that North Carolina has a lot of sub openings.
Great way to make decent money.
Not my cup of tea: I tried subbing before teaching full time and I didn’t like it. Like you mentioned in the post, sometimes teachers leave you bad (or NO) lesson plans. For me, I didn’t like not knowing what I was walking in to each day.
However– in Texas, it is $100 a day, so for some people it is worth it. 🙂
La Tejana @ Debt Free Tejana recently posted…Why Texas is the Best and the other 49 States Don’t Even Compare
$100 a day isn’t bad. Even $90 was nothing to complain about to me. And I don’t really consider it my cup of tea, it’s definitely a last-chance sort of job these days. I like knowing it’s there if I need it, but there are so many things I’d rather do!
Very interesting! It’s a good way to make some money, that’s for sure! I have known a could people who have been subs and they really enjoyed it! Visiting from #SITSSharefest–had to click on your link because I am all about earning money! Have a great rest of the weekend!
Emily
Emily recently posted…Safety While Working at Home
Yeah, me too! I spent so long trying to be frugal, which is great and all, but at some point you just need to start bringing in more cash.
This makes me wonder what the qualifications in my own state would be! I imagine it would depend on the district or part of the state as to how much you actually make everyday, along with how well the kids are behaved. After working in education for a little bit, it doesn’t surprise me that the kids that were the hardest to handle were from the school that paid the least.
femmefrugality recently posted…Financially Savvy Saturdays: Twenty-Fourth Edition
I believe Pennsylvania is just a Bachelor’s degree, but I’d recommend giving your local school board a call and asking them to be sure.
I was a student teacher for a HS when I was in college for a few years. It was fun work. I’d like to teach people about personal finance at some point. After paying off $109k in debt someone should consider me an expert 🙂
Brian recently posted…Week End Round Up #19
Definitely! And you should. They really should have personal finance courses in high school. I think it’s completely overlooked and would be a way more useful life skill than half the junk they do make you take.
Being a substitute teacher would be really rewarding. I love kids and I think I’d be a good teacher. I’m not so sure it’s that easy to become a sub in Canada, though.
Daisy @ Add Vodka recently posted…What I Watched, Read, and Listened To: Food Edition
Crazy that you had to deal with a fight the first day on the job as a sub. 🙂 I like how you talk about the different states and things you have to do so people can weigh the pros and cons. I would have guessed that the requirements would have varied from state to state as so many other things do. Thanks for sharing your experience with us at Countdown in Style! Don’t forget to stop by Friday to see if you are featured 🙂
Brittnei recently posted…The Fit Pregnancy Series: Planks
I know. The kids were nuts! At first I was all “this never happened when I went here!!” And then I remembered that it did and I was an idiot for subbing there. 😛
It’s kinda funny to read about the fist fight and everything that happened in just a matter of 30 seconds, or at least that’s how it felt. LOL. I’d probably panic! Sub teaching sounds like a great idea but won’t work for me as I’m working fulltime. Maybe next time though. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Yeah, it’s not compatible with full time work, but for those of us with weirder schedules, it’s pretty convenient.
I considered teaching in California, but then they wanted everyone to go get a teaching credential. I’ll have to check it out now that I moved to Florida. Great info. Thanks for stopping by Countdown in Style. I’d love if you would stop by on Friday to see if you were featured.
Yeah, when I moved to California right after college, I was sure I could get by subbing until I found a real job and it turned out I couldn’t. That was how I learned that different states can differ pretty widely on what they’ll accept and what they won’t – or even what they just prefer if they’ve got a big candidate pool.
My sister-in-law does this, and loves the flexibility and extra income. I wish I had the time for it!
Ryan @ Impersonal Finance recently posted…you vs. the economy
It’s definitely a terrific side hustle. And I think it’s really overlooked. I think there’s something about taking those skills into a theater that freaks people out – even when they’re perfectly qualified. I spent half of the recession trying to convince my dad, who has been a carpenter for 40 years, that he could pick up extra work working with me. He thought I was nuts, but he would’ve been way better at building sets than I ever was.
I do this, I worked at my regular job from 8:30-5PM M-F and I was lucky enough to change my schedule from M-Thurs 7:30-6PM, now I substitute every Friday. It’s a great side job, sometimes it is very easy and other times it is challenging though. Once I got paid $90 to sit in the teacher’s lounge all day. I wish I had brought a book or magazines.
Oh gosh, yeah, always bring a book – even if you’ve got a regular class, there’s often a prep period or something with nothing to really do unless you’re long term subbing.
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