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U.S. Department of Education

Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development

Policy and Program Studies Service

Results in Brief:

Study of the Teacher Education Assistance for College

and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program

March 2018

The Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant aims to increase the number of highly 

qualified individuals teaching in high-need fields, such as reading specialist, mathematics, or science, at high-need

schools. TEACH Grants provide up to $4,000 per academic year to students preparing to become teachers. To receive a 

TEACH Grant, students must sign a service agreement to teach in a high-need field and school for a minimum of four 

years in an eight-year period. After leaving their program, recipients must provide annual certification indicating that 

they intend to or are currently teaching in a high-need field and school. For recipients who do not meet the service or 

certification requirements, their TEACH Grants convert to loans. This study was conducted to better understand 

institutional practices in implementing the TEACH Grant program and to identify factors associated with grant recipients 

not meeting the grant requirements. 

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. How do TEACH Grant recipients view the grant 

requirements and to what extent do recipients fulfill 

those requirements?

2. What factors are associated with TEACH Grant 

recipients not meeting the grant requirements?

3. How do institutions of higher education administer 

TEACH Grants and support grant recipients?

STUDY DESIGN

Findings in this report are based on data collected from 

institutions and TEACH Grant recipients through surveys 

and interviews as well as from existing data. Surveys

were administered to all 472 institutions that awarded 

TEACH Grants to at least 10 recipients in 2014–15 and to 

a random sample of 500 TEACH Grant recipients who 

had either graduated from or left the 472 institutions. 

Site visits were conducted at nine institutions 

administering TEACH Grants and included interviews 

with faculty who work in teacher preparation, as well as 

staff in admissions, financial aid, and student support 

roles. The extant data analysis included administrative 

data on TEACH Grant recipients and documents that 

institutions used to promote awareness about the TEACH 

Grant. 

A limitation of this study is that some respondents did

not answer questions related to their reasons for not 

meeting the grant requirements. 

Highlights

• More than half (58 percent) of the TEACH Grant 

recipients said the TEACH Grant was somewhat or 

very influential in their decisions to pursue teaching in 

a high-need field at a high-need school.

• When TEACH Grant recipients first received their 

grants, 89 percent thought they were likely or very 

likely to fulfill the service requirements, but at the 

time of the survey, 63 percent had their grants 

converted to a loan because they had not met the 

service requirements or the annual certification 

requirements. 

• Recipients who did not meet the grant requirements

reported both employment-related factors, such as 

teaching in a position that did not qualify as TEACH 

Grant service, as well as process-related factors, such 

as not understanding the service requirements and 

not knowing about the annual certification 

requirement. 

• Institutions were more likely to report using TEACH 

Grants to make higher education more affordable for 

students than to encourage students to pursue 

teaching in a high-need field at a high-need school.

• If TEACH Grants were counted against the federal annual 

loan limit, 42 percent of students who received TEACH 

Grants in 2013–14 would have exceeded that limit. 

• Seventy percent of institutions provided students with 

placement services for qualifying TEACH Grant service 

positions. 
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TEACH GRANT RECIPIENT VIEWS AND OUTCOMES

Fifty-eight percent of the TEACH Grant recipients said 

the TEACH Grant was somewhat or very influential in 

their decisions to pursue teaching in a high-need field 

at a high-need school. Almost half (44 percent) said 

that the TEACH Grant was somewhat or very influential 

in their decisions to pursue teaching as a career. Thirtythree percent of the recipients said that the grants did 

not influence their decisions to pursue teaching as a 

career, and 19 percent said that the grants did not 

influence their decisions to pursue teaching in a highneed field and school.

Eighty-nine percent of the TEACH Grant recipients 

thought they were likely or very likely to fulfill the 

service requirements when they first received their 

grant. Recipients who eventually had their grants 

converted to loans retrospectively reported being less 

likely to meet the service requirements when they first 

received their grant.

Among TEACH Grant recipients who began their eightyear service obligation period prior to July 2014, 

63 percent had their grants converted to an unsubsidized 

loan because they did not meet service requirements or 

annual certification requirements as of June 2016. Among 

the remaining, 6 percent completed their service in full, 

and 31 percent have grants requiring service.

FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH RECIPIENTS NOT 

MEETING THE TEACH GRANT REQUIREMENTS

Recipients who did not meet the grant requirements 

reported both employment-related factors and processrelated factors. 

• Employment-related factors included teaching in a 

position that did not qualify as TEACH Grant service 

(39 percent) and not working as a certified teacher 

(33 percent). 

• Process-related factors included not understanding

the TEACH grant service requirements (32 percent), 

not knowing about the annual certification process 

(19 percent), and challenges with the certification 

process (13 percent). 

• Twenty-four percent reported other factors such as 

never being certain of intention to teach and 

changing to a nonteaching, administrative position at 

a school (e.g., promotion to principal) prior to 

fulfilling their service.

TEACH Grant recipients who did not meet the grant 

requirements were less likely than those who met 

certification and/or service requirements to say they 

were well informed about the service requirements 

during the process of obtaining their first grant 

(39 percent and 65 percent, respectively).

Grant-to-loan conversion rates were higher among males, 

students with federal loans, and Pell Grant recipients. For 

example, 66 percent of then TEACH Grant recipients who 

were Pell Grant recipients had a grant converted to a 

loan versus 58 percent of those who were not Pell Grant 

recipients.

INSTITUTIONAL ADMINISTRATION

Institutions were more likely to report using TEACH 

Grants to make higher education more affordable for 

students than to encourage students to pursue teaching 

in a high-need field at a high-need school.

Nearly all (92 percent) institutions reported using TEACH 

Grants to make higher education more affordable for 

students Almost half (49 percent) of the institutions 

reported using TEACH Grants to encourage students to 

pursue teaching in a high-need field at a high-need 

school. 

Ninety-three percent of the IHE Survey respondents 

indicated that the financial aid office led oversight of the 

grant, whereas 7 percent indicated that oversight was led 

by other departments, such as the college of education.

If TEACH Grants were counted against the federal annual 

loan limit, 42 percent of students who received TEACH 

Grants in 2013–14 would have exceeded that limit. 

Federal loan limits exist to protect students from 

excessive borrowing. Although TEACH Grants are not 

intended to be loans and do not count against federal 

loan limits, nearly two-thirds of recipients examined 

ultimately had their grants converted to loans.

Seventy percent of institutions provided students with 

placement services for qualifying TEACH Grant service 

positions.

More than half of the participating institutions reported 

providing guidance to students on how to identify 

teaching positions that would qualify under the grant 

requirements (58 percent). Fewer institutions indicated 

that they provided updated lists of available positions to 

students (48 percent).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The complete report is available at

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/opepd/ppss/repor

ts.html.