ExpatinAsia99 wrote:
> Does anybody have an experience with the American College of Education
> (ACE) education programs?
>
> https://www.ace.edu/programs/education-programs
>
> They seem quite cost effective at around USD$9500.
>
> I searched the forum and some UK universities are mentioned i.e. Keele,
> Bath, Sunderland, Nottingham, ranging from GBP8000-13,000. Also, some
> Australian universities, though the costs for these seem very high even
> when accounting for the currency exchange rate.
>
> Any other suggestions for cost effective online Masters programs I should
> look into?


I did a masters through ACE and it depends what you’re looking for. If you just want the degree to say you have it and get a pay increase, it’s great. If you’re looking to really learn something, I’d go elsewhere. The readings in the courses were shockingly outdated and they taught many strategies and ideas that were the opposite of best practice. It was easy and not too time consuming, though!

Heliotrope wrote:
> I know a few people working at UWCSEA, and all them enjoy working there.
> They do indeed work hard though (some of them harder than they have to
> because they just can help themselves), although not 12 hour work days.
>
> Not sure if I'm correct, but it does seem the salary at UWCSEA has dropped
> a bit, or maybe the other two of the top 3 schools there have just
> increased theirs significantly, leading to a bigger gap.


The salary posted on Search has increased recently and is now higher than what SAS has posted.

Heliotrope wrote:
> I know a few people working at UWCSEA, and all them enjoy working there.
> They do indeed work hard though (some of them harder than they have to
> because they just can help themselves), although not 12 hour work days.
>
> Not sure if I'm correct, but it does seem the salary at UWCSEA has dropped
> a bit, or maybe the other two of the top 3 schools there have just
> increased theirs significantly, leading to a bigger gap.

I heard through the grapevine after some digging that UWCSEA does not have accurate salaries posted on Search and other forums and that the actual packages are higher than posted. One person also told me she believed they offered a 13th month which doesn’t factor into the base salary where SAS does not offer that. Can’t speak to the accuracy of that, though.

I will say, I’ve been on campus there a handful of times for various PDs and do not believe the “no teachers under 35” thing for a minute. Maybe in the elementary division since I was never with them, but the secondary teachers were older than I expected. Many, many older than me and I’m mid-30s.

I enjoy games and school events and often bring my kids along to those things at my current school. I’ve always been pretty involved in extracurricular stuff coming from American public schools. If that’s the worst of it, I think I can handle it.

Southern Teachers Association is great if you want to be in the south. They have a pretty far reach.

I saw a job posted at UWCSEA that I’m pretty interested in, but reviews around here make it seem totally unreasonable if you have a family. I don’t want to waste my time on their very extensive application if it’s not feasible. Any thoughts about this recently? Most of the posts about them are 8-10 years old.