t.f.a.

so recently ive been thinking about a pretty drastic change in my life. with the onset of all these freaking student loans im going to be paying off for the next 10-20 years, the costs that are continuously popping up with the house, and my very limited salary opportunities in my field of work, im starting to get a little stressed out... additionally, the last two months energy bills have been in excess of 250 bucks [although i really hope that they start to go down significantly now that we've installed all the new windows...] and for whatever reason [i still havent called them, maybe i will during lunch today] my federal student loans bill was double this month what it was supposed to be. and did i already mention our house taxes? and like all other americans im drowning in credit card debt as well. [although, its not nearly as bad as most people and im slowly digging myself out each month - i havent put anything on my credit card in well over a year... i actually cant even remember the last time i did.] soon karen will be returning to school full time [march] and we wont have double income anymore, so far i think its the only way we've been able to stay above our expenses and also save a little each month. shes planning to try and find a part-time job while shes taking classes, but im sure itll be a significant pay cut from what she's bringing home now.

im sure this all sounds like a lot of complaining and whining, and i certainly dont mean to. im just filling you guys in on whats pretty constantly in the back of my mind. ive actually come to make peace with our financial situation in the last couple of months and im no longer nearly as stressed out over it as i once was, but the fact remains that all of this stuff is there, just lurking... fiendishly... i try to be responsible with our finances, and as such i want to be able to pay my expenses in a responsible manner... which brings us to the real topic of this post. 

ive recently been considering the idea of joining teach for america. [www.teachforamerica.org] karen and i have been discussing the reality of this option for the last few days, and well... according to the website its getting down to crunch time for me to make a decision or not. i have until february 13th to make a decision and apply for the program if im serious about doing it. so now the dilemma: i just cant decide. theres two sides to every decision, obviously, and i guess i just need to vent my thought process [and if you guys want to, feel free to provide some feedback]. 

first let me explain the program [as i understand it so far] to those of you who are unfamiliar with it. the general gist of things is kind of a trade-off situation. our country has a serious depravity of well educated teachers, most especially in inner city school districts. the whole idea behind the program is to fill the need with recent graduates of a higher education program - regardless of their major. so the trade-off is that they get teachers and in return they pay off your student loans. thats the deal. now then, the technicalities of the program are a bit foggy to me, and if you visit the link i provided, you might understand why. the website is insanely overloaded with information and its taking me a while to get through it[or even find the parts relevant to my questions]. you have to give them 2 years of time in an inner city|urban school, that much i know. also, according to what ive read so far they're looking to include a lot of diversity in their program and art & architecture graduates are one of the smallest represented demographics in their program - this is promising for me getting in, i think. however, ive yet to discover how the payment exchange actually works. i havent found yet if i also earn a full salary with health benefits during the year as well - is it a normal teachers salary? is a drastic cut in pay from what im earning now? [which is comparable to a high school teacher anyway, so im not worried about making a standard teachers salary too much] if i dont have any kind of real income or benefits during the program, then theres no way i can justify it for the sake of paying off my school loans. i havent found yet if i get to apply to a certain district or of they just assign you wherever they need you to go - if i have to leave cincy, thats a deal breaker. also, i havent found yet the specifics of the student loan repayment thing. i know they pay off student loans, but do they pay off all of them? is it only federal, or do they do private loans as well? is there a cap on how much they'll pay? these are certainly questions id like answered... anyway, theres a half dozen others as well, but im still making my way through all the information on the website [if anyone happens to know the answers to these questions or where on the website to find them i would GREATLY appreciate any help!] so the pros and cons...

[pros]

i could potentially get my student loans, or a very large chunk of them, paid off in 2 years as opposed to the 10-20 its going to take now. also, ive had in my mind for several years that i want to be a professor at some point in my life and thats nearly impossible without any teaching experience on my resume, so this would provide valuable experience towards my future. also, id love to teach in general, its always been a passion of mine to help others learn and i think id make a pretty great teacher for a middle school or high school [which brings up another question, do you get to choose an age group or do you just get assigned something? i dont necessarily want to teach 2nd graders, i think id be bored out of my mind, but with the potential loan pay off and the satisfaction of knowing im helping fill this need for these kids, im sure id be able to do it with little hesitation]. not to mention the potential to actually work a teachers calendar. class is out at 3pm? holidays and summers off? i could handle that. haha, im sure theres more to it than that ;] generally i think it would be a good experience with more than enough benefits to it [depending on the way the program is structured obviously]

[cons]

what about architecture? if i take a 2 year sabbatical from architecture, then what? ive played with the idea of still working part time in the field, but i really dont know how possible that would be with after school tutoring, grading papers, or whatever other things are required of teachers. [did i mention im daunted by the idea of designing a curriculum and teaching outlines and stuff? i mean, im sure i can do it, i just have no idea where to even start - yes they do provide teacher training for the program - and its just got me a little nervous right now] also, just how dangerous are these inner city schools we're talking about? do they have metal detectors? is there serious violence problems? am i going to get shot by some disgruntled kid who brought a gun to school? that doesnt exactly sound pleasant... but i digress. architecture. im currently working on idp, [which i mentioned before this past summer] and if i take 2 years off, thats just delaying getting my architecture license for 2 years. not to mention the maintenance fees involved in keeping my idp active after i pass their time frame [its only like 100 bucks a year or whatever, but still.] additionally, i havent even been working at my office for 6 months yet, and id feel pretty awful just abandoning them out of the blue. im sure theyd understand, and even thought about asking to workout some kind of part-time|weekend schedule possibly, but id still feel terrible about it - my office is really pretty great! what if i start to forget stuff? i mean... i doubt i will, but you never know. after 2 years of teaching algebra 1 or whatever, am i going to forget some of my architecture stuff? am i going to have to relearn a ton of information when i go back to architecture? will the industry and technology have drastically changed while i was on sabbatical? things are changing so rapidly in our lives as it is, i mean while im working in my field i just roll with it and im constantly learning and adapting - but if i take a break for two years, what will i miss? 

i dont know... theres probably a ton of other questions still rolling around in my mind on both sides, but its definitely something i feel is worth giving serious consideration to at this point in my life. feel free to share your thoughts, my adoring readers. but for now, i bid you adieu.