The TEACH Grant and its service agreement
The TEACH Grant pays students preparing to teach in high-need fields, in exchange for years of teaching afterward. Read the terms closely before you accept, because the grant changes into a loan when the service is left unfinished.
What the grant asks before it pays
The TEACH Grant is offered only at participating colleges and only for programs the school has designated as TEACH-eligible, usually teacher preparation or a subject a teacher would need. Federal rules also set academic standards, such as a minimum grade average or test score. Your aid office can tell you whether your program is on its list.
Before each payment, you sign an Agreement to Serve or Repay and complete TEACH Grant counseling on studentaid.gov. Counseling explains the service terms, and the agreement makes them binding. Expect to repeat the counseling in each award year that you receive the grant.
The four years of teaching
After you leave the program, you have eight years to finish four complete academic years of full-time teaching. The teaching has to be in a high-need field, at an elementary school, secondary school or educational service agency that serves students from low-income families. The Department of Education publishes a directory of those schools.
High-need fields include subjects such as mathematics, science, special education, bilingual education and reading, along with fields on a federal shortage list for the state where you teach. Each year you certify your employment, or your intent to teach, with the TEACH Grant servicer. A missed certification can start the conversion on its own.
A missed certification can start the conversion on its own.
When the grant becomes a loan
Every TEACH Grant you received becomes a Direct Unsubsidized Loan if the service is left incomplete. Interest is counted from the date each grant was paid, so the balance can be larger than the grants themselves. A conversion made for a valid reason is permanent.
Conversions sometimes happen by mistake, for example after a certification form was lost or processed late. You can ask the servicer for a review, and grants converted in error can be restored. Keep copies of every certification and employment record so you can show what you sent and when.
Steps to take this week
- Ask whether your program is TEACH-eligible
- Read the Agreement to Serve or Repay in full
- Look up schools in the federal low-income directory
- Save a copy of each yearly certification
Who decides
Your college's financial aid office and the TEACH Grant servicer
The TEACH Grant stays a grant only if you teach full time in a high-need field for four years within eight years of leaving the program.
