Clemson participates in the Federal Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program.
The TEACH Grant is available to students who plan to begin a career in teaching, are enrolled in a Clemson-approved major, are on track to meet the requirements for entering the professional level of their education curriculum and meet the minimum GPA, Praxis Core testing and application requirements. Recipients must agree to serve as a full-time teacher in a low-income school, as a highly qualified teacher, and in a high-need field for at least four years within eight calendar years of leaving the program for which they received the TEACH Grant. Recipients that fail to complete the four years of qualified teaching service within eight years of completing the course of study for which the TEACH Grant was received, or otherwise fail to meet any other requirement of the grant, will have their Teach Grant converted into a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan. Accrued and capitalized interest is effective from the date of the original grant disbursement. Once a Teach Grant converts to a loan, it is not reversible.
The Teach Grant provides up to $4,000.00 per academic year in grant assistance. The aggregate limit for undergraduates cannot exceed $16,000.00 and the aggregate limit for graduate students cannot exceed $8,000.00. If a student is eligible to receive the TEACH Grant, the student will be awarded an estimated amount that assumes full-time enrollment and is adjusted based on the current year sequester (required federal reductions). Example: For any TEACH Grant first disbursed on or after Oct. 1, 2020, the maximum award of $4,000 is reduced by 5.7 percent ($238), resulting in a maximum award of $3,772. If a student enrolls less than full-time, the amount of the annual TEACH Grant that he or she receives will be adjusted accordingly.
Eligibility
Students must be degree-seeking and in a major Clemson has approved as Teach Grant eligible. Clemson has approved the following majors as Teach Grant eligible based on the federal list provided by the Department of Education and the National List applicable to the state of South Carolina:
Federal TEACH Grant - Eligible Undergraduate Majors
Undergraduate Majors |
Concentration |
Middle Level Language Arts and Social Studies |
Combination Language Arts and Social Studies curriculum |
Middle Level Math and Science |
Combination Math and Science curriculum |
Secondary Math |
Mathematics Teaching; Secondary Education (with an emphasis in Mathematics) |
Secondary Science |
Science Teaching |
Secondary English |
Secondary Education (with an emphasis in English) |
Secondary Social Studies |
Secondary Education (with an emphasis in Social Studies) |
Special Education |
Federal TEACH Grant - Eligible Graduate Degree Programs
Graduate Degree Programs |
Emphasis Area |
Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) |
Middle Grades Math |
Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) |
Middle Grades Science |
Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) |
Middle Grades English |
Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) |
Middle Grades Social Studies |
Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) |
Secondary Math |
Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) |
Secondary Science |
Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) |
Special Education |
Master of Education (MED) |
Literacy, ESOL |
General requirements
To receive a TEACH Grant, students must meet the following criteria:
- Submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) each academic year;
- Be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen;
- Be enrolled as a degree-seeking undergraduate or graduate student in an eligible Clemson major with a GPA of 3.25 or above;
- As an undergraduate, a student must have earned 30 applicable credit hours and satisfied the first year of the teaching curriculum. Must also have passed or exempted all Praxis Core requirements and be on track for entering the professional level of the curriculum.
- Be taking coursework necessary to complete teacher certification in a high-need field;
- Annually, students must sign a new TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve and complete a new Teach Grant Counseling;
- Each academic year, for consideration of TEACH Grant, submit the required application materials to Student Financial Aid. Submit the completed forms at least 30 days before the end of the term of enrollment for which the TEACH Grant funding is being requested;
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- Complete TEACH Grant Exit Counseling in your final term (30-60 days) before graduation.
Requirements for maintaining grant status after graduation
To avoid repaying the TEACH Grant after graduation, you must serve as a full-time teacher in a low-income school, as a highly-qualified teacher, and in a high-need field for at least four years within eight calendar years of leaving the program for which you received the TEACH Grant. For a listing of schools and teaching fields that qualify, visit the Nationwide List for the state in which you intend to teach.
Initial 120-Day Certification Requirement
As explained in your TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve, you are expected to confirm for the TEACH Grant servicer, FedLoan Servicing, in writing within 120 days of the date when you ceased to be enrolled (graduated or withdrew) from the school where you received a TEACH Grant that you are:
- employed as a full-time teacher in accordance with the terms and conditions described in the Agreement to Serve; or
- not yet employed as a full-time teacher but intend to meet the TEACH Grant service obligation.
FedLoan Servicing will notify you when your initial 120-day certification is due.
Note: If you withdraw from school before completing the program of study for which you received a TEACH Grant, and you do not submit this initial certification to FedLoan Servicing within 120 days from the date of your withdrawal, all TEACH Grants you received will be converted to Direct Unsubsidized Loans. You must then repay these loans to ED, with interest charged from the date the TEACH Grants were disbursed. FedLoan Servicing will notify you if your TEACH Grants are converted to Direct Unsubsidized Loans.
Annual Certification Requirement
As explained in your Agreement to Serve, each year you must provide ED’s TEACH Grant servicer, FedLoan Servicing, with (1) documentation showing that you have completed a full school year of qualifying teaching service, or (2) a certification that you intend to satisfy the terms and conditions of your TEACH Grant service obligation. The documentation of teaching or certification of intent must be submitted to FedLoan Servicing by an annual certification date.
Before Nov. 1, 2018, your annual certification date was based on the date when you ceased to be enrolled (graduated or withdrew) from the school where you received a TEACH Grant. Therefore, annual certification dates varied among TEACH Grant recipients. To make it easier for TEACH Grant recipients to remember the annual certification date, ED has adopted a standardized annual certification date for all current and future TEACH Grant recipients.
Starting in 2019, the new annual certification date that will apply to you and all TEACH Grant recipients is Oct. 31. Each year at the beginning of October, the TEACH Grant servicer, FedLoan Servicing, will notify you and tell you how to submit your documentation of progress towards completing your TEACH Grant service obligation, or your certification of intent to satisfy the service obligation.
If you do not submit your documentation of progress or certification of intent by Oct. 31 and do not respond to reminder notices from FedLoan Servicing, all TEACH Grants you received will be converted to Direct Unsubsidized Loans. You must then repay these loans to ED, with interest charged from the date the TEACH Grants were disbursed (paid to you). FedLoan Servicing will notify you if your TEACH Grants are converted to Direct Unsubsidized Loans.
Teaching Obligation
To avoid repaying the TEACH Grant with interest, you must be a highly-qualified, full-time teacher in a high-need subject area for at least four years at a school serving low-income students. You must complete the four years of teaching within eight years of finishing the program for which you received the grant. You incur a four-year teaching obligation for each educational program for which you received TEACH Grant funds; however, you may work off multiple four-year obligations simultaneously under certain circumstances.
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.
Highly-Qualified, Full-Time Teacher
You must perform your teaching service as a highly-qualified teacher, which is defined in federal law in section 9101(23) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, or, for special education teachers, in section 602(10) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. To find out if you meet the requirements to be considered "highly qualified," check with the Chief Administrative Officer at the school or educational service agency where you are teaching. You must meet the state’s definition of a full-time teacher and spend the majority (at least 51 percent) of your time teaching one of the high-need subject areas. Elementary teachers who teach many subjects would not be able to fulfill their service agreement.
High-Need Subject Areas
The Department of ED lists the following as high-need fields:
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- Bilingual Education and English Language Acquisition
- Foreign Language
- Mathematics
- Reading Specialist
- Science
- Special Education
- Any other field listed in the U.S. Department of Education’s Annual Teacher Shortage Area Nationwide Listing at http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/pol/tsa.html.
A field listed in the Nationwide List will satisfy a recipient's service obligation if:
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- The field is designated by a state as high-need at the time the recipient begins qualifying teaching in that field in that state (even if that field subsequently loses its high-need designation for that state); or
- The recipient is teaching in the field during or after the 2010-2011 school year, and the field was considered high-need by the state in which the grant recipient is teaching during any award year the student received a TEACH Grant. (Even if the high-need field is no longer designated as high-need for that state when the grant recipient begins qualifying teaching service).
You can also learn more information about the Federal TEACH Grant online at https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/teach#what-is-teach.