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On July 4, 2021, US President Joe Biden addresses on the South Lawn of the White House during Independence Day celebrations in Washington, DC. (AFP photo) ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS (Image courtesy of ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images)
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Last week, the Biden administration unveiled improvements to a crucial teacher grant program that had been criticized for its complicated bureaucratic requirements and poor management.
TEACH (Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education) Grants provide government financial aid to students who agree to teach in low-income, underserved school districts after graduation. The help is provided in the form of grants, rather than student loans, and does not require repayment as long as the beneficiary remains eligible and completes the four-year service requirement. This reduces the need for students to take out student loans to pay for their education. TEACH Grants can be converted to student loans that must be repaid with interest if recipients do not retain their eligibility, such as by leaving their teaching assignment too soon or failing to complete needed annual documentation.
The US Department of Education and its student loan servicers have been accused by consumer advocates of mismanaging the TEACH Grant program. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey filed a lawsuit against FedLoan Servicing, a student loan servicer that administers the TEACH Grant program, accusing the servicer of allowing minor mistakes or omissions on TEACH Grant forms to snowball into major issues, including the improper conversion of those grants into student loans. FedLoan Servicing did not confess to any misconduct in the action, which was recently settled.
The TEACH Grant program will undergo many significant modifications under the Biden administration:
With more reminders and clearer communications, the Department of Education and FedLoan Servicing will streamline the annual paperwork requirements for the program.
If TEACH Grant recipients do not certify their eligibility on time, their grants will be converted to loans.
TEACH Grant applicants who do not certify at the end of each year of teaching will not have their grants converted to loans until they run out of time to fulfill the requisite four years of service within the program’s eight-year deadline.
When a TEACH Grant winner is unable to fulfill their service obligation during an academic year, the Department of Education is allowing for more flexibility.
The Department of Education has developed a review mechanism for TEACH Grant recipients whose funds have been converted to loans. If TEACH Grants were mistakenly converted to loans, recipients will be eligible to further relief.

“Our instructors are advocates for kids’ abilities and custodians of their accomplishments. Respecting and honoring teachers who serve students with the most challenging needs also necessitates ensuring that these educators receive the support they are entitled to under this important federal program without having to jump through unnecessary hoops “In a statement released last week, US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said: “The revisions will give the TEACH Grant much-needed enhancements.”
TEACH Grants are distinct from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which allows students to have their federal student debts forgiven after making 120 qualified monthly payments. PSLF has had its own set of issues, and supporters are clamoring for big changes there as well.
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Over 100 organizations wrote to Secretary Cardona earlier this year, urging him to use emergency pandemic powers to conduct a full, 90-day audit of the “broken” PSLF program and to automatically forgive student loans for all borrowers who have completed ten or more years of public service, regardless of specific compliance with the PSLF program’s obfuscated requirements. Borrower advocacy groups and Democrats in Congress have also urged the Biden administration to prolong the existing moratorium on federal student loan payments, which is slated to expire on September 30 unless programs like PSLF are fixed. The administration has remained silent so far.
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