u/Heez_

Hey everyone, hoping someone here has been through this and can share their experience.

My wife is about 90% through her graduate ed program and is on the home stretch — her last remaining requirement is student teaching. As we all know, student teaching is brutal because you basically can't work while you're doing it, and it's a significant chunk of weeks. The financial hit is real.

Here's where we're at:
- She's already a per diem sub with the DOE, so fingerprints, trainings, etc. are all done
- She's completed most of her certification exams — the only one left is her content specialty exam
- Her college has already written her a letter of recommendation supporting her for the Internship Certificate

Our thinking is: why not apply for the Internship Certificate and try to land a full-time teaching position for this coming September? From what we understand, the internship cert essentially replaces the traditional student teaching requirement — you complete it on the job, and you just need a mentor teacher or colleague to support you while you're in the classroom full-time.

Has anyone here gone through the Internship Certificate route? Specifically:
- Did it actually satisfy your student teaching requirement with your college program?
- How difficult was it to get hired on an internship cert?
- Any gotchas with the DOE or NYSED we should know about?

Would love to hear from anyone who's been through this. Thanks in advance!

With TRS recently introducing the Roth TDA option I've been rethinking my whole setup and wanted to hear what other DOE teachers are doing.

My current situation for context:

- 8 years in, Tier 6

- $92k in traditional TDA (currently Diversified + Sustainable — probably switching)

- $30k in Vanguard Roth IRA (VTSAX)

- Thinking about 50% Fixed Return / 50% US Equity Index for the TDA

- Considering the 8% traditional / 4% Roth contribution split going forward

A few specific questions:

1. Are you staying with traditional TDA or switching to the Roth option? Or doing a split? If you switched, what made you pull the trigger?

2. What Passport Funds are you invested in and why?

I've been in Diversified Equity and Sustainable Equity for a while but both seem to underperform their benchmarks and charge more than the index options. Thinking about moving to Fixed Return and/or US Equity Index. Curious what others landed on.

3. Do you have your own Roth IRA outside of TRS?

If so where — Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab? And what are you invested in?

4. How are you thinking about the pension in the mix?

Tier 6 here. Feels like having the pension changes the calculus a lot vs people without one — like maybe you can afford to be more aggressive or conversely lean into the Fixed Return since you already have guaranteed income coming.

Just want to hear what real DOE teachers are actually doing and thinking. Would love to hear from people at different career stages too.