Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant

Eligible statuses include the following:

• U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens (based on federally determined guidelines)
• People enrolled as an undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, or graduate student in a postsecondary educational institution
• Students must be enrolled in a TEACH grant eligible major:
  
  • Chinese Education
  • Early Childhood Education
  • Earth Science Education
  • Earth Science/Chemistry Education
  • Earth Science/Life Science Education
  • Earth Science/Physics Education
  • Elementary Mathematics Education
  • French Education
  • German Education
  • Integrated English Language Arts Education
  • Integrated Mathematics Education
  • Latin Education
  • Life Science Education
  • Life Science/Physics Education
  • Life Science/Chemistry Education
  • Middle Childhood Education
  • Mild/Moderate Intervention Specialist
  • Physical Science Education
  • Physical Science/Chemistry Education
  • Primary Education PK-5
  • Project Dragonfly
  • Secondary Mathematics Education
  • Spanish Education
  • Special Education
• Students who scored above the 75th percentile on a college admission test (ACT/SAT/GRE) or who maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25
• Students who complete the required TEACH Grant Initial and Subsequent Counseling and a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay (Agreement).

The following fields qualify as high-need:

• Bilingual education and English language acquisition
• Foreign language
• Mathematics
• Reading specialist
• Science
• Special education
• Other identified teacher shortage areas at the time you begin teaching in that field. Teacher subject shortage areas are listed in the Department of Education’s Teacher Shortage Areas Nationwide Listing.

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

The award amount is subject to change based on federal sequestration. The annual statutory amount is as follows:

• Full-time student (12+ credit hours): $4,000
• Three-quarter-time student (9-11 credit hours): $3,000
• Half-time student (6-8 credit hours): $2,000
• Less-than-half-time student (5 or fewer credit hours): $1,000

The TEACH Grant may be renewed if the following is completed each year:

• FAFSA filed
• TEACH Grant Initial and Subsequent Counseling 
•  Agreement to Serve or Repay (Agreement) 
• In addition, you must maintain a 3.25 g.p.a. (needed for qualification) throughout your academic program and you must remain in a TEACH eligible major (see list above)

Both can be completed at StudentAid.gov. You can sign the form using your FSA ID.

As a TEACH Grant recipient, you are required to complete exit counseling. You may complete the exit counseling online at StudentAid.gov. The TEACH Grant exit counseling will explain the TEACH Grant Service Obligation and the terms and conditions that apply should your grant become a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Student Loan.

Within 120 days of completing or otherwise ceasing enrollment in your program of study, you must confirm to the U.S. Secretary of Education that either you are employed as a full-time teacher in accordance with the terms and conditions of the service agreement, or you are not yet employed as a full-time teacher but you intend to meet the terms and conditions of the service agreement. At the end of each year, if you are performing full-time teaching service in accordance with the service agreement, you must provide the Secretary with documentation of your teaching service on a Secretary-approved form that is certified by the chief administrative officer of the school in which you are teaching. The form must document that you are a highly qualified teacher, teaching in any of the designated high-need fields, in a designated low-income school.

If you receive a TEACH Grant but do not complete the required teaching service as explained above, you will be required to repay the grants as a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Student Loan, with interest charged from the date that each TEACH grant was disbursed. For more information, go to StudentAid.gov.