Financial Aid

TEACH GRANT PROGRAM FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

The Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program that provides grants up to $4,000 per year for to students who intend to teach in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves students from low-income families.  The TEACH Grants will be awarded to eligible graduate students at CUNY, starting in the 2009-2010 school year.  The aggregate maximum amount is $8000 for graduate students.

Conditions

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 the required 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. 

Student Eligibility Requirements

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

• 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 a graduate student in an eligible CUNY graduate 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)
• Be either a Full-time or Part-time student
• 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 (see below for more information on the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve)
  

High-Need Fields

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. To access the listing, please go to www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/pol/tsa.doc <doc>.

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. To access the Directory, please visit www.tcli.ed.gov/CBSWebApp/tcli/TCLIPubSchoolSearch.jsp and click on the SEARCH button. 

Teach Grant Agreement to Serve

Each year you receive a TEACH Grant, you must sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve that is available electronically on the TEACH Grant Agreement to serve website. The TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve 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.

Additional information on the TEACH Grant is available on the Department of Educations website , click here.