TEACH Grant Program
The Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program provides grants to students in exchange for a completion of a service obligation teaching in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves students from low-income families.
Award Amount
Grants up to $4,000 per year may be awarded.
Service Obligation
In exchange for receiving a TEACH Grant, you 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.
- 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.
- Teach for at least four academic years within eight calendar years of completing the program of study for which you received a TEACH Grant.
If you fail to complete this service obligation, all amounts of the TEACH Grants that you received will be converted to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan. You must then repay this loan to the U.S. Department of Education. You will be charged interest from the date the grant(s) was disbursed.
Student Eligibility Requirements
To receive a TEACH Grant you must:
- Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), 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 coursework that is necessary to begin a career in teaching or plan to complete such coursework. Such coursework 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.
High-Need Fields
High-need fields are the following subject areas:
- 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.
As of July 1, 2010, a recipient of an initial TEACH Grant who has received an academic degree, or expertise, in a field that was, at the time of the recipient's application for the grant, designated as high-need, but no longer has that designation, can fulfill the service obligation associated with the TEACH Grant by teaching in that high-need field.
Interested?
Contact your financial aid office to find out if your college participates in the TEACH Grant Program.
Learn more by visiting the U.S. Department of Education.