Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education

(TEACH) Grant Program

Created by Congress as part of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, the TEACH Grant program was created to assist in the development and recruitment of teachers for high need programs in public or private elementary or secondary schools that serve low income families.

Amount of Grant

• Up to $4000 annually for full time attendance
  • prorated to maximum of $3000 for 3/4 time study
  • prorated to a maximum of $2000 for 1/2 time study
• Aggregate limits:
  • Undergraduate aggregate maximum is $16,000
  • Graduate aggregate maximum is $8,000
• Note: Eligibility for the TEACH grant may affect your eligibility for other types of aid. Awarding of the TEACH Grant may necessitate revision to other awards on file for current or upcoming term.

Conditions:

• Students who receive the TEACH Grant must agree to serve as a full-time teacher in a high need field in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves low income students, for at least 4 academic years within eight calendar years after completing the program of study for which they receive the TEACH Grant assistance.
• If the required teaching commitment is not completed, the grant is converted in full to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, with interest charged from the date the grant was first disbursed.

Eligibility:

to receive the TEACH grant at FSU, you must:

• Be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen.
• Be enrolled as an undergraduate, or graduate student in a TEACH eligible program at Florida State University
  • FSU will consider only Junior, Senior and graduate level students enrolled in eligible College of Education degree programs.
• Have a 3.25 G.P.A. prior to each disbursement

Application Process:

1. Complete a FAFSA form each year at www.fafsa.ed.gov - the TEACH Grant is not need based, so you may qualify for the TEACH Grant even if you do not qualify for other need based grants or loans
2. Complete and sign an Agreement to Serve (ATS) online.
3. Complete TEACH counseling

FSU will receive notification of your Agreement to Serve (ATS) and TEACH counseling completion and will then review your eligibility for the TEACH Grant. If you are eligible, your financial aid offer will be revised and posted to your Financial Aid Student Toolkit.

Note: Steps 1-3 must be completed each academic year as the TEACH Grant requires annual Agreement to Serve documentation, and Initial, Annual, and Exit counseling for all recipients.

Teaching Obligation:

To prevent the TEACH Grant from converting to an Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, recipients of the grant must serve 4 years as a highly-qualified, full-time teacher in a high-need subject area at a school serving low-income students. The four years of teaching must be completed within eight years of finishing the program for which the grant was received.

There is a four-year teaching obligation for each educational program for which the grant is received, although you may work off multiple four-year obligations simultaneously under certain circumstances.

High Need Fields:
High-need fields (as offered by FSU) are the specific areas identified below:

• Mathematics
• Reading Specialist
• Science
• Special Education

Low Income Schools:

Schools serving low-income students include any elementary or secondary school that is listed in the Department of Education’s Annual Directory of Designated Low-Income Schools for Teacher Cancellation Benefits.

Documentation:

Recipients will be required annually to document to the U.S. Department of Education compliance with the teaching requirement. Failure to do so will result in the grant being converted to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan. The Chief Administrative Officer of the school where the recipient is employed will be required to document that the recipient continues to be eligible for grant status by meeting all of the following conditions:

• full time teaching status as a highly qualified teacher
• in a high need field
• at a low income school

Additional information on documentation requirements will be covered in the required TEACH Exit counseling.

It will be important to keep up with ALL requests for documentation. Failure to complete the teaching obligation, respond to requests for information, or properly document your teaching service will cause the TEACH Grant to be permanently converted to a loan with interest.
Once a grant is converted to a loan it can’t be converted back to a grant!

Recipients who temporarily cease enrollment in an eligible program of study or if who encounter situations that affect the ability to begin or continue teaching, will need to stay in touch with the U.S. Department of Education to assess their options.

 

Links:

Additional information on the TEACH program may be found on these sites:

Federal StudentAid TEACH site

Federal TEACH Grant FACT page

Annual Directory of Designated Low-Income Schools for Teacher Cancellation Benefits

last updated March 10, 2010