UPSButton

Hi - new to the forum!

I'm looking to move to the US in 2012, hold a US passport but have not been 'home' in a long time and am trying to initially gauge what wage/standard of living I might expect based on what I do now and what I'm looking for.
Can someone help convert for me?

I currently teach at a agricultural college and hold a FE teaching qualification to teach 16+ (but do have student 14+ in my classes). I'm pretty specialised in that I work in the animal care sector but happy to look elsewhere in terms of teaching if my qualification would be excepted (maybe something science related).
I'm currently around the £25k bracket and own a 1 bed flat, car and can just about survive on this wage with my mortgage and bills (and no social life!).

Can anyone answer the following....?

Based on my current wage/lifestyle what might be the approximate money I should be looking for in the US to match what I have now?
Either p.a. or $p/h?

Has anyone had any experience trying to find a teaching post with UK quals and could give me an overview of their success or not?
I'd be especially interested to know if I might be considered to teach either in a high school or private primary school?

If it helps I am probably looking to live either along the East coast such as NH or ME or possibly Mid such as UT or AZ.

Thanks for any help that you might be able to give.

Noorah101

Any research you do on this now, will most likely be very different in 2012 anyway.

Rene

ian-mstm

Generally, you can not teach in the US with only UK qualifications. Qualifications are state specific, so you'll need to look up the information for each state in which you're interested. You'll need a minimum of a Bachelor's degree and at least a Master's degree if you want something more permanent. Further, you'll probably need to take PRAXIS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxis_test).

Ian

Bob

All those questions really depend on if you have a location in mind. An answer for Oklahoma will mean nothing if you're interested in Bangor Maine etc.

Where to teach possibly, there's a really big agricultural degree taught at UConn, CT....not exactly a cheap place to live though...but there's also quite a good one in UME in Maine, which is much cheaper to live in.

Your qualifications other than a degree won't really mean all that much though and if teaching school age kids, you'll have to go through the certification process just like anyone else would for the state you are interested in. PRAXIS levels to pass are also state dependent, it's a piece of piss for Florida, but massively higher score is required to pass up in Maine.

Other things to sort out if you haven't already, file your taxes with the IRS and if you haven't already and are under 26, to file for the SS.

scrubbedexpat099

How do you know Op is male?

Did I miss something,

UPSButton

Thanks for replies so far.
I am female by the way

I have looked into the Praxis test which seems a straightforward process so thanks for making me aware of that - also interesting to note the difference in requirements between states!

Anyone out there able to give me an equivalent wage to aim for?
As I said I'm looking to know what I should earn to have my own bought apartment (i.e pay a mortgage), run a car and pay bills.
I'd say I've got a moderate standard of living.

penguinsix

Again the problem is where are you going to end up. $45,000 a year in a midwestern farming community will go a hell of a lot further than $45,000 in Connecticut, and you would qualify for government assistance programs in some major cities. It really isn't that cut and dried such that we can give an answer that would cover even a majority of the states.

You might get more traction trying to determine the wages of teachers in different parts of the country vs. the cost of living in that area.

The other rub is that the number of available teaching positions are being cut across much of rural America as the population in those states declines. You might try looking at the Great Plains states (Dakotas, Montana, etc) as they might have more options with a slightly growing population.

Bob

Like I said, it'll completely depend on where you live...be able to do that in Maine on $25K a year but you'll probably want to be around at least $60K down in CT...

Your main problem is your credit history, depending on when and how long it was since you last lived there...US history will make a big difference on the mortgage rate, car insurance, everything.