Eligibility for TEACH Grants

In addition to meeting the general Title IV eligibility requirements covered in Volume 1 of the Federal Student Aid Handbook, a student who wishes to receive a TEACH Grant must meet other requirements that are specific to the TEACH Grant Program. These include being enrolled in a TEACH Grant-eligible program at a school that participates in the TEACH Grant Program, meeting certain minimum grade point average or standardized test score requirements, receiving TEACH Grant counseling, and signing a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay. We describe these requirements below and in Chapter 2.

Enrollment in a TEACH Grant-Eligible Program at a TEACH Grant-Eligible Institution

To receive a TEACH Grant, a student must be enrolled in a TEACH Grant-eligible program at a TEACH Grant-eligible institution.

A TEACH Grant-eligible program is an eligible program (as described in Volume 2, Chapter 2) that is designed to prepare a student to teach in a high-need field (see below) and that leads to a bachelor’s or master’s degree or is a postbaccalaureate program (see below). A two-year program that is acceptable for full credit toward a bachelor’s degree is considered a program that leads to a bachelor’s degree.

Schools that participate in the TEACH Grant Program determine which programs to designate as TEACH Grant-eligible programs. An otherwise eligible student who received a TEACH Grant for enrollment in a program previously designated by the school as TEACH Grant-eligible may receive additional TEACH Grants to complete that program, even if that program is no longer considered a TEACH Grant-eligible program.

A TEACH Grant-eligible institution is an eligible institution (as described in Volume 2) that:

Provides a high-quality teacher preparation program at the bachelor’s or master’s degree level that meets certain requirements;

Provides a two-year program that is acceptable for full credit in a bachelor’s degree teacher preparation program offered by an institution described in paragraph 1 of this definition, or that is acceptable for full credit in a bachelor’s degree program in a high-need field at an institution described in paragraph 3 of this definition;

Offers a bachelor’s degree that, in combination with other training or experience, prepares a student to teach in a high-need field and has entered into an agreement with an institution described in paragraphs 1 or 4 of this definition to provide courses necessary for its students to begin a career in teaching; or

For more detail on the requirements for a school to be a TEACH Grant-eligible institution, refer to the regulatory definition cited below.

High-Need Field

To satisfy the TEACH Grant service obligation, a TEACH Grant recipient must teach in a high-need field. For purposes of the TEACH Grant Program, high-need fields are:

In addition to the fields listed above, high-need fields also include any other field listed as high-need in the Department’s annual Teacher Shortage Area Nationwide Listing (also known as the “Nationwide List”).

The Nationwide List includes fields that have been documented as high-need by the federal government, a state government, or a local educational agency. These high-need fields may be subject areas, geographic areas (for example, a particular county or counties within a state), or specific grade levels (for instance, elementary education) where it has been determined that there is a need for teachers. The Nationwide List is updated annually. For teaching in a high-need field listed in the Nationwide List to satisfy a TEACH Grant recipient’s service obligation, that field must be listed in the Nationwide List for the state in which the grant recipient teaches:

At the time the recipient begins teaching in that field, even if that field is later removed from the Nationwide List; or

At the time the grant recipient signed the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay or received a TEACH Grant, even if that field is no longer designated as high-need when the recipient begins teaching.

A TEACH Grant recipient begins teaching to satisfy the service obligation during the 2024-2025 school year. The grant recipient is employed as an elementary school teacher in a state where elementary education is designated in the Nationwide List as a high-need field for the 2024-2025 school year. Beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, elementary education is no longer designated as a high-need field in that state. However, the grant recipient can still satisfy the service obligation by serving as an elementary school teacher in that state, because elementary education was designated as high need at the time they began teaching in that field.

Volume 9, Chapter 1, Example 2: Field Is No Longer High-Need When the Grant Recipient Begins Teaching

At the time a student receives a TEACH Grant, history is designated as a high-need field in the Nationwide List for the state where the grant recipient intends to teach to satisfy the service obligation. Although history is no longer designated as a high-need field when the grant recipient later begins teaching in that state, the grant recipient can still satisfy the service obligation by teaching history because history was designated as a high-need field in the state where the recipient is teaching at the time they received a TEACH Grant.

Post-Baccalaureate Program

Except as noted below, a post-baccalaureate program is a program of instruction that:

Consists of courses required by a state in order for a student to receive a professional certification or license that is a requirement for employment as an elementary or secondary school teacher in that state.

Note: A program does not qualify as a post-baccalaureate program if it is offered by a TEACH Grant-eligible institution offering a bachelor’s degree in education.

Academic Eligibility Requirements (Grade Point Average or Test Score)

In general, students who wish to receive TEACH Grants must meet an academic standard. Specifically, they must either have a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.25 on a 4.0 scale or the numeric equivalent (see below), or must have scored above the 75th percentile on at least one of the batteries from a nationally normed standardized undergraduate, graduate, or post-baccalaureate admissions test (not a placement test). However, these requirements do not apply to certain students who are current or former teachers or retirees (see below).

If the GPA standard is used, eligibility for an undergraduate student in the first year of a TEACH Grant-eligible program is based on the student’s final cumulative high school GPA upon graduation or the cumulative GPA for all classes the student has taken at the postsecondary school through the most recently completed payment period. After the first year, eligibility is based on the student’s cumulative GPA through the most recently completed payment period.

For a graduate student, eligibility is based on the student’s cumulative undergraduate GPA for the first payment period, and thereafter the student’s cumulative graduate GPA through the most recently completed payment period.

For an undergraduate student in the first year of a program, you must confirm the student’s high school GPA using documentation obtained directly from the cognizant authority, or documentation from the cognizant authority that is provided by the student. A cognizant authority includes, but is not limited to, a public or private secondary school, a local or state education agency (or other state agency) or, in the case of a home-schooled student, the student’s parent or guardian. If the student provides the document but you have reason to question its accuracy, you must obtain documentation directly from the cognizant authority.