Anyone who has lived in New York City for any length of time knows that it takes a lot of hard work, creativity, and maybe a little bit of luck to get there.
The same goes for Ashley Alicia, who grew up in the city until her early teens and returned in 2020.
Since then, Alicia has gone from making about $50,000 a year as a kindergarten teacher who couldn’t afford her own apartment to making $90,000 a year at a charter school and an additional $55 an hour with a side job in mental health counseling. She also enjoys the security of her home, which she won in the New York City Housing Lottery.
Now, the 33-year-old is focused on paying off the remaining $61,000 in student loans from graduate school. According to an analysis of the 2025 National Teacher and Principal Survey by the Learning Policy Institute, about 60% of teachers use student loans for their education, and nearly 40% have outstanding balances, paying an average of $342 a month.
Meanwhile, about 17% of public and private school teachers reported working a second job during the school year, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Learn how Alicia is accelerating her debt repayment journey.
$40,000 raise
Alicia moved to Shanghai, China in 2016 and began working as an English teacher. Although the pay wasn’t great, she says the cost of living was low enough that she could live comfortably in a nice part of town.
Alicia returned to the United States in 2020 and took a job teaching a kindergarten in New York City, earning just $50,000 a year. According to Census data, the typical New Yorker who lives alone or with roommates has a median annual income of $53,817.
Alicia said she felt getting an apartment on her own was out of reach: “It was really disrespectful to come to New York and wake up not being able to live on a teacher’s salary.”
Over the next few years, Alicia says she struggled to reconcile the importance and influence of her work with the low pay. A 2025 report from the National Education Association says teacher pay has not kept pace with inflation over the past decade, despite record increases in some states.
Although New York City public school teachers typically earn more than the national average ($69,000 a year for a bachelor’s degree holder just starting out), they also face a high cost of living.
Alicia spent time at several schools before joining Brilla Public Charter School in the Bronx in 2024. She currently works with students from multilingual families as a Multilingual Learner Specialist, earning approximately $90,000 annually.
“This is a predominantly Hispanic community, so it’s a good opportunity to advocate for families and work with them in their native language,” said Alicia, who grew up speaking Spanish with parents from Ecuador. “Now I see a lot of purpose in it and I feel like I’m making a difference in these kids’ lives.”
“Really expensive” side job
In 2021, Alicia began graduate school in mental health counseling with the goal of turning mental health counseling into a career and increasing her salary potential. She graduated in June 2025 with a Master of Science in Education and Mental Health Counseling.
A few months later, in September, she started working part-time as a therapy associate at online mental health provider Cerebral, making $55 an hour.
Ashley Alicea works up to eight hours a week as an online therapy associate. She makes $55 an hour.
Zachary Green CNBC Make It
Working with Cerebral’s After School Hours will allow Alicia to work toward completing the 3,000 clinical hours required to become a certified mental health counselor.
Alicia said she considers her job in mental health counseling to be a “side hustle” (and a “very expensive” job, given the degree required, which she took out on loan) on top of her full-time teaching job.
She sees six to eight clients a week and works on her side hustle for up to eight hours a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. She typically earns about $1,500 a month from mental health counseling.
Alicia said that limiting the amount of time she spends on her side hustle has helped her own well-being so she can work full time (7:15 a.m. to 3:50 p.m. while in school), cook, go to the gym, walk her dog, and take care of her health.
A four-year plan for financial freedom
Alicea says she uses much of the income she earns from her side job to pay off student loans for graduate school. All told, she withdrew about $92,000 to cover four years of tuition and living expenses while continuing to work full-time as a teacher.
A few years ago, Alicia says she started thinking more seriously about money after a bad breakup, and began reading books and listening to podcasts to familiarize herself with the concept of financial literacy. Once she started making more money, she says she was able to save about $10,000 in a high-yield savings account and put $5,000 into it to create an emergency fund. She also began significantly increasing her debt payments.
As a teacher, Alicia was able to qualify for public service loan forgiveness after 10 years dedicated to public service. However, she said she did not want to be “locked into public service” for the period required for PSLF and would rather “keep her options open for the future.”
“I really want to get this over with and start investing in earnest and start building my own wealth,” she says. Alicia puts about $1,500 toward her debt each month. She has about $61,000 left and estimates she can pay off her debt in four years.
Ashley Alicia won the New York City Housing Lottery and was able to afford an apartment on her own.
Zachary Green CNBC Make It
What really helps Alicia’s budget is keeping her rent low. She is a two-time winner of the New York City Housing Lottery, a program that helps residents find affordable housing.
Alicia was checking on new units every day until she was approved for one unit in 2023 and another in 2025. Current rent is $1,954 per month.
Alicia says she’s telling everyone she knows to try it. “It’s worth it to move out of your apartment and into a more affordable, stable apartment, especially if you live with roommates.”
Want to lead with confidence and bring out the best in your team? Take CNBC’s new online course, How to Become an Exceptional Leader. Expert instructors share practical strategies to help you build trust, communicate clearly, and motivate others to do their best work. Sign up now and use coupon code EARLYBIRD to receive an initial discount of 25% off the regular course price of $127 (plus tax). Offer valid from March 16th to March 30th, 2026. Terms and conditions apply.
