Essay Why Do So Many Colleges Decline to Participate in a Federal Grant Program for Teachers?
An Essay for the Learning Curve
Daniel Sparks
Download essay
(211.06 KB)

In 2008, federal lawmakers passed the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program, which seeks to encourage more students to pursue degrees in education and reduce teacher shortages in high-need fields at low-income schools. The program offers grants to undergraduate and graduate students who enroll in participating postsecondary programs and after graduation, recipients must teach in an area on the nationwide shortage list for at least four years within an eight-year period. If recipients do not meet these requirements, their grants convert to unsubsidized loans with accrued interest from when grants were initially awarded. But the program has faced several issues, from administrative burden and program complexity to erroneous and high grant-to-loan conversions.

Key Takeaways

  • Since 2010, the number of TEACH grant recipients and grant volume have steadily declined, and take-up among institutions with state-approved teacher certification programs and institutions that participate in federal aid programs has remained near 50 percent.
  • In 2022, 11 percent of awarded bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education were to TEACH grant recipients, down from a high of 16 percent in 2017.
  • Among minority-serving institutions (MSIs)—including predominantly Black and historically Black colleges and universities, tribal colleges, and institutions serving predominantly Hispanic, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or Asian American students—participation rates in TEACH are similar to non-MSIs and hover near 50 percent.
  • About 60 percent of public institutions participate in TEACH, compared with 50 percent of private nonprofit institutions.
  • Institutional participation rates in TEACH are slightly higher in areas with a higher proportion of TEACH-eligible K–12 schools, but TEACH participation rates are still low. For example, in counties where more than 75 percent of schools are TEACH eligible, only 52 percent of colleges and universities participated in TEACH.

Implications

The Biden administration has called for doubling the program’s maximum grant awards, but these data suggest that low participation rates and high grant-to-loan conversion rates under the TEACH grant should be addressed before it is expanded. Though the TEACH program was designed to provide financial incentives for enrollment in teacher preparation programs and teaching in high-need fields at low-income schools, there is little association between TEACH participation and increased degree production in education overall or more specifically for teacher candidates of color.

To increase institutional and student participation in TEACH, the program should consider making changes. First, the Department of Education could publicly report on TEACH’s grant-to-loan conversion rates for participating institutions. This information would help students understand how their programs have fared as it relates to this measure, and schools with low grant-to-loan conversion rates could share best practices on maintaining partnerships with eligible K–12 schools, supporting students through teacher certification, and more. The Department of Education could also consider additional regulations on TEACH participation for institutions with exceptionally high grant-to-loan conversion rates and low program completion rates. Additional changes to TEACH are needed to ensure the program functions more reliably as a grant program, rather than a loan program, to better attract participation among institutions and students and to minimize effects on student loan burden.

Improvements to TEACH can go only so far to keep teachers in the classroom and at eligible schools. The biggest single reason for grant-to-loan conversion among TEACH recipients is lack of qualified service. TEACH can play an important role in recruiting teachers, but it should be coupled with local, state, and federal efforts that have been shown to boost teacher retention, such as more opportunities for career advancement, higher teacher pay, and improved school climate. In working alongside such efforts, policymakers can address teacher recruitment and retention and ensure that TEACH has a greater impact. 

Get the Data

Additional Resources
Research and Evidence Work, Education, and Labor
Expertise Higher Education
Tags Higher education