What Is a TEACH Grant? In exchange for meeting a four-year service requirement, teachers can get financial assistance from the federal government through the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant to cover their eligible higher education fees.
Definition and Examples of the TEACH Grant
The Department of Education administers the federal financial aid program known as the TEACH Grant. In return for completing a four-year service requirement, it offers teachers up to $4,000 a year to pay for their post-secondary studies.
Graduate students may receive up to $8,000 over two years, while undergraduate and postbaccalaureate students may get up to $16,000 over four years. You must be enrolled full-time in a qualifying program at a partnering school to receive the entire amount.
How the TEACH Grant Works
The TEACH Grant was created to assist aspiring teachers in covering the costs of their post-secondary education while also filling positions that are desperately needed in low-income schools. If you are accepted, you must go through counseling to understand your service requirement. A TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay must also be signed. You will then get a disclosure that details the award amount and the disbursement dates to your school. The TEACH Grant will be applied by your institution in multiple installments by crediting your account, paying you directly, or doing both.
You must complete TEACH Grant exit counseling after you graduate or leave your higher education program. Additionally, you need to fulfill your duties for teaching service and federal student aid.
Your TEACH Grant will become a straight unsubsidized loan if you don’t fulfill your service requirements. The conversion counseling must be finished, and you must start paying back your loan with interest that has accumulated since the day of your initial disbursement. You may ask for a review of it that was turned into a loan in specific situations. In that process, your TEACH Grant provider can help.
Requirements for the TEACH Grant
Student funding and service commitments are the two categories of requirements for TEACH Grant candidates.
Federal Student Aid Requirements
You must satisfy the fundamental eligibility conditions for federal student aid to be eligible for the TEACH Grant, which include:
- Demonstrate financial need
- Be a citizen of the U.S. (or an eligible noncitizen)
- Have a Social Security number
- Register with the Selective Service (most male students)
- Maintain satisfactory academic progress as defined by your school
- Show you’re qualified to obtain higher education
- Sign the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) certification statement
Teaching Service Requirements
The following teaching criteria must be completed to participate in the TEACH program:
- Work at a low-income school: The Teacher Cancellation Low-Income Directory lists eligible low-income elementary/secondary schools and education service organizations (TCLI Directory).
- Teach in a field with a high need: According to the Teacher Shortage Area Nationwide Listing, more than half of your classes must be in a field with a high need (updated annually).
- Be a highly qualified teacher: Depending on whether you teach at a public or private school, certain standards must be met to be labeled a “highly qualified” teacher.
- Four service anniversaries: For four years, you must work as a full-time teacher at a qualifying school, instructing in a qualifying subject.
- within eight years of graduation, finish your service: You’ll typically need to fulfill the four years of service within eight years of graduation.
How To Apply for the TEACH Grant
If the TEACH Grant interests you, inquire about its availability with the financial aid departments of the colleges you’re considering. then complete the FAFSA and submit it to apply. Your aid package will specify whether it is offered at the school of your choosing and the amount you can receive.
You must go through initial and follow-up TEACH Grant counseling every year you receive it to learn about the specifics of the service requirement. For each of it, you receive, you must also sign the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay. Furthermore, you must finish the departure counseling after you graduate or drop out of school.
Alternatives to the TEACH Grant
Other initiatives are available to support instructors with higher-education costs.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program
If you work for an eligible employer (such as the government or a not-for-profit organization) and make 120 qualifying payments, the PSLF Program will forgive your federal direct loans.
Teacher Loan Forgiveness
Up to $17,500 in federal direct, unsubsidized, and subsidized or unsubsidized Stafford loans are forgiven under the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program. You must have worked as a full-time teacher for five years straight at a low-income elementary or secondary school or educational organization to be eligible.
Federal Perkins Loans Teacher Cancellation
If you work as a special education teacher, teach in a public or nonprofit elementary or secondary school that serves low-income families, or teach a subject that is in demand because there aren’t enough qualified teachers in your state, your federal Perkins loans may be fully forgiven after five years of full-time employment.
Pell Grants
Undergraduate students who haven’t graduated but show financial need can receive free aid through the Pell Grant program. There is no requirement to perform service, unlike the TEACH Grant. You will nevertheless need to finish your program of study and adhere to the enrollment and performance standards.
Although the TEACH Grant may be a useful source of assistance for some teachers, there are other ways for teachers to perhaps reduce the expense of college.
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