Rewriting the TEACH Grant Rules: Lessons from a History of Mismanagement
Rewriting the TEACH Grant Rules: Lessons from a History of Mismanagement
The federal TEACH Grant program, established by statute in 2007, provides grants to aspiring teachers who agree to work after graduation in critical positions in our nation’s schools. The grants convert to federal loans if the teachers do not serve as promised or do not comply with paper work requirements after they graduate. The proportion of grants that have converted to loans is staggeringly high and due, in part, to errors by the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) and private companies administering the program and to rigid and confusing reporting rules.
Public Citizen conducted a review of grant-to-loan conversions under the TEACH Grant program, including by reviewing hundreds of pages of records newly released by the Department in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.