Teach Grant

Eligibility:

• Graduate-level Education student (minimum GPA: 3.25)
  
• Earning first masters’ degree
  
• Currently teaching full-time in a regular classroom setting

Through the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, Congress created the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program that provides grants to students who intend to teach in a high need field in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves students from low-income families.

Graduate students who wish to apply for a TEACH Grant must complete each of the items below:

• Submit a letter from your school principal verifying that you are a full-time classroom teacher
• File the FAFSA
• Complete TEACH entrance counseling and the Agreement to Serve (ATS) online.

Important points to remember regarding the TEACH Grant:

• The service requirement is to teach four years, full-time, in a high need subject area at a school serving students from low-income families.
• The entire grant reverts to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan if the full four year teaching requirement is not met within 8 years of completing (or withdrawing from) the masters’ degree program. There is no partial conversion.
• If the TEACH grant reverts to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan, interest is accrued as of the first date of disbursement of the grant.
• Deferments are granted by the U.S. Department of Education for continuing education.
• The U.S. Department of Education retains the right to grant an extension of the 8 year period for exceptional cases.
• Entrance counseling must be completed each year.
• Exit counseling is required upon completion.
  
• Upon completion of each year of required teaching service, documentation of the service must be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education in the form of certification by a chief administrative officer of the school where you were employed.

Definitions:

• High Need: Bilingual Education and English Language Acquisition, Foreign Language, Mathematics, Reading Specialist, Science, Special Education
  
• Low Income: Public or private nonprofit elementary or secondary school eligible for assistance under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act