The Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant awards up to $4,000 a year to students who are completing or will complete courses to begin a career in teaching.
Grant Eligibility
Recipients can be:
- Undergraduate students
- Graduate students
- Enrolled in a postbaccalaureate teacher credential program
- Current or former teachers or retirees
Basic requirements
Students must:
- Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSASM), although you do not have to demonstrate financial need. Be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen.
- Be enrolled as an undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, or graduate student in a postsecondary educational institution that has chosen to participate in the TEACH Grant Program.
- Be enrolled in course work that is necessary to begin a career in teaching or plan to complete such course work. Such course work may include subject area courses (e.g., math courses for a student who intends to be a math teacher).
- Meet certain academic achievement requirements (generally, scoring above the 75th percentile on a college admissions test or maintaining a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25).
- Sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve (see below for more information on the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve).
Award
- Full-time students may receive $4,000 per year, up to a maximum of $16,000 for undergraduate and postbaccalaureate study, and up to a maximum of $8,000 for graduate study.
- Amounts are prorated for less than full-time enrollment.
The award, when combined with other assistance cannot exceed cost of attendance.
To apply
All applicants must
- Fill out the FAFSA and make sure the school you attend participates in this grant program
- Undertake initial counseling
- Sign an Agreement to Serve
- Enroll in a TEACH Grant-eligible program at a participating institution, and
- Be currently completing, or intend to complete, course work necessary to begin a career in teaching in a high-need field.
Agreement to Serve?
Each award year, TEACH Grant recipients must sign an Agreement to Serve that explains that the recipient must teach for four years within eight years of completing or ceasing enrollment in a TEACH Grant eligible program as a full-time highly-qualified teacher in a low-income elementary or secondary school in a high-need field.
TEACH Grant recipients must submit evidence of employment that is certified by the chief administrative officer of the school on completion of each year of teaching.
If the grant recipient fails or doesn't carry out the teaching obligation, the TEACH Grant money received is treated as an unsubsidized Direct Stafford Loan and must be repaid with interest.
The high-need fields
- Bilingual Education and English Language Acquisition.
- Foreign Language.
- Mathematics.
- Reading Specialist.
- Science.
- Special Education.
- Other identified teacher shortage areas as of the time you begin teaching in that field. These are teacher subject shortage areas (not geographic areas) that are listed in the Department of Education’s Annual Teacher Shortage Area Nationwide Listing. To access the listing, please go to http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/pol/tsa.doc.
Learn more
Students can find more information on this grant at www.teachgrant.ed.gov.
