Overhaul makes it easier for aspiring teachers to get grants

The U.S. Department of Education on Thursday relaxed rules on a scholarship program designed to help aspiring teachers pay for college but actually left thousands stuck in student debt.

The update is part of a revision of federal regulations that was completed under the Trump administration but is only now coming into effect. However, unlike other Trump-era rules that the Biden administration is working to reverse, this rule has been heralded as a victory for the nation’s teachers.

Education Minister Miguel Cardona said the changes bring much-needed improvements to help teachers obtain scholarships “without jumping through unnecessary hoops”. He said the White House now hopes to go one step further by increasing funding for the program and taking other measures to address the teacher shortage.

TEACH Grants – short for Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education – were launched in 2007 to expand the country’s teaching staff and direct more teachers to schools in low-income areas.

The program can earn up to $ 4,000 per year for students planning to teach high-demand subjects in schools that serve low-income students. You must teach for at least four years within eight years of graduation. If they fail to achieve this goal or if they fail to submit regular documents, the grants become federal loans that have to be repaid in full and with interest.

Since its inception, more than 200,000 students have received scholarships through the program.

Legislators from both parties called for improvements after a federal regulator found in 2015 that thousands of the grants had been converted into loans. In 2019, almost half of the scholarships awarded under the program turned into loans, in many cases simply because recipients failed to submit annual forms proving their teaching status, according to a report from the Department of Education.

Former Education Minister Betsy DeVos eased some of the requirements last year amid a spate of policy changes. Your updated rule adds flexibility and reduces the paperwork that caused problems for recipients. The regulation should come into force on July 1st.

With the new policy, college graduates no longer have to submit a form stating that they have started or are planning to teach within 120 days. After starting teaching, they still have to submit annual forms that prove their teaching status. Otherwise, the scholarships will not automatically be converted into loans.

On Thursday, Education Department officials stressed that the only way to convert a scholarship into a loan now is for students to apply or if they run out of four-year teaching time within the eight-year deadline.

An expanded appeal process also allows students to request a re-examination if their scholarship is converted into a loan for any reason. And the Department of Education accepts a wider range of reasons allowing students to get credit for a full year of apprenticeship even if they only work part of the year.

President Joe Biden suggests adding his American Families Plan to the program. His proposal would double the amount of scholarships for college juniors and seniors, as well as all graduate students, to $ 8,000. It would also eliminate the interest on converting grants into loans and add educators to the program.

The White House says the proposal would increase the number of fellows by more than 50% to nearly 40,000 in 2022.

source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/overhaul-makes-it-easier-for-aspiring-teachers-to-get-grants/