TEACH Grant

The Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program, provides a grant in assistance to students who are completing or who plan to complete coursework required for a career in teaching.

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 (see below for more information on high-need fields and schools serving low-income students). As a recipient of a TEACH Grant, you must teach for at least four academic years within eight calendar years of completing the program of study for which you received a TEACH Grant.

Important: If you fail to complete this service obligation, all amounts of 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. 

Required for all students applying for a Federal TEACH Grant:

2025-2026 Academic Year:

2024-2025 Academic Year:

Also, TEACH Grant Counseling and the TEACH Agreement to Serve or Repay (Agreement) must be completed online. Review this sample of the TEACH Agreement to Serve or Repay (Agreement). 

Student Eligibility Requirements

To receive a TEACH Grant you must meet the following criteria:‎‌

  • Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and meet basic criteria for federal student aid. Note: You do not have to demonstrate financial need.
  • Be accepted into the Isabelle Farrington College of Education & Human Development.
  • Be currently completing or planning to complete, coursework required to begin a career in teaching in a high-need field. 
  • Be enrolled in a TEACH-Grant-eligible program. 
  • Meet certain academic achievement requirements (scoring above the 75th percentile on a college admissions test or maintaining a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25).
  • Complete initial TEACH Grant Counseling and complete subsequent counseling each year that you receive a TEACH Grant.  
  • Sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay (Agreement) with the US Department of Education. 

High-Need Field

High-need fields are the specific areas identified below:

  • 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.

Access the listing

Schools Serving 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.

Access the directory

TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay (Agreement)

Each year you receive a TEACH Grant, you must sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay (Agreement) that will be available electronically on the Department of Education website. The TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay (Agreement) specifies the conditions under which the grant will be awarded, the teaching service requirements, and includes an acknowledgment by you that you understand that if you do not meet the teaching service requirements you must repay the grant as a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan, with interest accrued from the date the grant funds were disbursed. Specifically, the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay (Agreement) will require the following: 

  • For each TEACH Grant-eligible program for which you received TEACH Grant funds, you must serve as a full-time teacher for a total of at least four academic years within eight calendar years after you completed or withdrew from the academic program for which you received the TEACH Grant.
  • You must perform the teaching service as a highly-qualified teacher at a low-income school. The term highly-qualified teacher is defined in section 9101(23) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 or in section 602(10) of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act.
  • Your teaching service must be in a high-need field.
  • You must comply with any other requirements that the Department of Education determines to be necessary.
  • If you do not complete the required teaching service obligation, TEACH Grant funds you received will be converted to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan that you must repay, with interest charged from the date of each TEACH Grant disbursement.