[Xist]

Shane, I am an independent contractor for a therapy agency out of Phoenix. They always say they are not receiving vendor calls and the owner of another agency said there were not any clients waiting for speech therapy. When I look for jobs on Indeed, Craigslist, and other sites the best-paying job that I find in the area is usually teacher.

Well, SLP, but I need a Master's for that.

I would need a teaching certificate to teach.

You know, the district that I attended pays teachers an extra $3,600 for having their master's. Teachers somehow manage to earn their Master's in two years while teaching full-time and allegedly sleeping. I am sure that some of those have families that are periodically needy. If you figure that you could complete a Master's in Education program in two years averaging 20 hours a week, a public graduate school in Arizona would charge about what a teenager would earn working the minimum wage the same number of hours. If that teacher worked a second job just earning the minimum wage and put everything into retirement (you couldn't), the teacher getting $25,000 into debt for a Master's would never catch up, despite the $3,600 raise.

Meanwhile, many districts pay SLPAs around $30,000 and SLPs around $55,000.