You landed the job as a Beaufort County teacher. Now how do you find a roommate?

Here’s how it goes for many new teachers in Beaufort County:

They land the job.

They start house hunting and learn how much a one-bedroom apartment costs.

They call their principal back and ask if he or she knows of another teacher looking for a roommate.

“This happens over and over and over again,” said Jill McAden, who worked 10 years as principal of Hilton Head Elementary before she shifted to teacher recruitment last fall.

With renting the more prevalent form of housing for new teachers, having a roommate is common, McAden said. She kick-started a recent districtwide campaign to connect new teachers looking for roommates.

“It just kind of dawned on me to have a database and take some of the load off of principals,” McAden said. “It can also help (new teachers’) careers to be living with someone else going through the same growing pains.”

The program also can help alleviate the cost-of-living pains that are all too common in Beaufort County. Median gross rent was $1,048 in 2015, according to the most recent census data.

That’s a steep price tag for a first-year district teacher who earned $35,156 last school year, according to district data.

Teachers also received a $2,000 cost-of-living supplement last school year, which will increase to $3,000 for the 2017-18 school year.

But there’s one aspect of the program McAden wants to emphasize: “I am absolutely not in the business of matching people up.” Rather, participating teachers receive others’ contact information and connect on their own.

The database already has eight names and will likely grow.

On Thursday alone, the district hired nine new teachers, McAden said. Last school year, the district had 287 new teachers, district spokesman Jim Foster said.

While the program is targeted to help first-year teachers, veteran teachers can also add themselves to the list if they have a rental room available, McAden said.

This story was originally published June 16, 2017 at 10:53 AM with the headline "You landed the job as a Beaufort County teacher. Now how do you find a roommate?."