Dear Happynonsense,
I finished my master's degree in educational psychology a year ago. I very much loved the program as I am interested in both higher education AND psychology (though my program also covered the developing learner - infants to seniors). I felt that I received an excellent education and really beefed up my writing and research skills. I did choose a school that was well-known for their program which was probably helpful.
Then I graduated. In all honesty, there really aren't any jobs for educational psychologists. You have to be creative and willing to work in something that may not be exactly what you were trained to do. You can use the degree to enter into a non-traditional pathway to teaching in secondary education (some states allow this), though you'll have to eventually earn a teaching certificate. I thought the degree would help me secure a job as a high school counselor but surprise, those are generally for school psychologists (at least from what I've been able to conclude). I thought maybe I could teach at the community college level but what with all of the nepotism and competition with Ph.D.s trying to make a side income, you can pretty much kiss that option good-bye.
Some people have been "lucky" enough to work as consultants, but it is difficult to break into that field because there are SO many others competing for jobs, and those people have years of expertise under their belts. It is also risky as it is generally contract work so as soon as it ends, you're jobless again. Frankly, those jobs go against my own personal morals anyway... you're generally working for a for-profit "university" writing syllabi, courses and assessments so that the school can hire a "teacher" (ahem, warm body) to grade discussion posts and papers in a pre-designed course. Something about not allowing an experienced professional to develop their own courses makes my stomach churn.
You may be able to find a corporation that is looking for experts to develop their employee training programs. From what I have been able to find, you generally need both the experience in their field (say, banking or insurance or wherever the job is posted) in addition to the degree... and then they'll want evidence of how you've applied your education to your field in the past. If you have that, great... but seeing as how you're still in your undergraduate program, I'm going to guess you don't. Maybe that'd be something to look into while you're still in school?
I cannot speak for all of those who hold RECENT master's degrees in educational psychology, but from what I have found, the only thing my master's degree really qualified me for is to earn a Ph.D. I have considered it but have frankly seen several major universities (including Arizona State University) shut down their Ph.D.s in ed psych because there isn't much of a demand for it and the universities aren't making enough money to maintain the programs. If this is the case, I am assuming that it would be next to impossible to secure a position in academia (pretty much the only thing you can do with a Ph.D. in educational psychology) upon graduation. I'm not really sure it would be worth my time and money.
So here I am, graduated and with a GREAT education, but no job in my field of choice. I'm not saying I'm not willing to work in another field, I'm just saying that it stinks to have to do something far less intellectually stimulating and interesting than that for which I went to school. I'm now tens of thousands of dollars in debt for a graduate degree and am looking for jobs as an insurance adjuster. Again, I'm willing to do the work, but I could have stopped at my BA for said job and would have had a lot less debt to repay.
If you are interested in counseling, I know there are some programs that offer it along with their ed psych degrees, but my friend who just graduated with an MSW told me that most of the entry-level positions are paying $11-15 per hour, which is not really a livable wage when you have substantial student loan debt.
Good luck to you!
P.S. The majority of students in my program were current K-12 teachers who were returning to earn their master's degrees in order to meet state requirements or boost their paychecks. It doesn't seem to do a whole lot for the rest of us!
