If you seek a teaching career, consider the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) grant program.

Funding

The TEACH program provides up to $4,000 per year in grants to full-time students who plan to teach full-time in high-need subject areas at schools serving students from low-income families.

Teaching Obligation

Recipients agree to teach for at least four full years within eight years of finishing their teacher preparation program and to teach high-need subjects in designated schools that serve low-income students. If you do not complete the teaching obligation, your grants will convert to an unsubsidized loan which you must repay with interest.

Service Agreement

Each year you receive a TEACH grant, you must sign a "Grant Agreement to Serve and Promise to Pay" service agreement, which is posted on the U.S. Department of Education's web site.

By signing the service agreement, you agree to repay the grant as a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan, with interest accrued from the date that the grant funds were disbursed, if you do not complete the teaching obligation. Once the grant has been converted to a loan, it cannot be converted back to a grant.

Counseling

You are required to complete counseling on the U.S. Department of Education web site each year you accept a TEACH grant. You will also complete exit counseling when you graduate or leave school.

Eligibility

At Marian University, you must:

• Be a United States citizen or eligible non-citizen.
• Complete a FAFSA, although you do not have to demonstrate financial need to be eligible.
• Have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25 throughout your academic program, or demonstrate a score above the 75th percentile on a national standardized college admissions test (submit a paper copy of your test scores showing percentile ranking to the Office of Financial Aid).
• Be accepted into an eligible degree program. You may:
  1. Major in education and pursue a certification in a high need subject area or
  2. Major in a high need subject area with the intent of also completing teacher certification
• Undergraduate students are eligible only if they are pursuing their first undergraduate degree. Students pursuing a second undergraduate degree or those in the fifth year (graduate certification year) of the teaching degree are NOT eligible for the TEACH grant.
• Sign an agreement to serve and complete counseling each year that you receive a grant.
• Complete entrance counseling.

Documentation

You will need to confirm within 120 days of completing or ceasing to enroll in your teacher preparation program that you are fulfilling (or plan to fulfill) the terms and conditions of your service agreement. You must document your teaching service and your documentation must be certified by the chief administrative officer at the school where you teach.

How to Apply

1. Submit your FAFSA as soon as possible after Jan 1.
2. Submit a paper copy of your standardized college admissions test scores showing percentile ranking to the Office of Financial Aid.
3. Complete the Initial and Subsequent Counseling and sign the Agreement to Serve at studentaid.gov/teach-initial-and-subsequent-counseling/.

Be aware that if you receive a TEACH grant but do not fulfill these requirements, any grant funding you receive converts into a loan with interest at the same rate as the federal Stafford Loan. Interest is compounded from the time you receive the award.