FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28, 2018
2018-2019 Application Opens for NC Teaching Fellows Program
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program announces that applications are now being accepted for the 2018-2019 application cycle. Any student with a high school, associates, or bachelor’s degree is eligible to apply. Students who wish to transfer or change their majors are also eligible.
Applications will be accepted through midnight on Monday, January 7, 2019. After that time, applicants will be evaluated by the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Commission, which will evaluate applications on the following elements: the applicant’s GPA, standardized test scores, experience, and written essays. The Teaching Fellows Commission will then select applicants to move forward for consideration in finalist interviews, which will be held around the state in spring 2019.
Last year, the commission selected the following five institutions as partner institutions for the program: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, North Carolina State University, Elon University and Meredith College.
“The North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program represents the best and brightest in North Carolina,” said UNC System President Margaret Spellings. “The Teaching Fellows program has a rich legacy in our state, and I look forward to a strong pool of candidates for this application cycle.”
The mission of the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program is to recruit, prepare, and support students attending North Carolina’s top education programs for preparation as highly effective STEM or special education teachers in the state’s public schools. Fellows will receive up to $4,125 per semester in forgivable loans if they commit to teach in a STEM or a special education area. The program is specifically designed to attract high-quality teachers to low-performing schools by offering an accelerated loan forgiveness schedule for teaching fellows who agree to teach in a low-performing school in North Carolina.
The North Carolina Teaching Fellows Commission is comprised of four deans from educator preparation programs, teachers, principals, a member from business and industry, and a local school board member. The NC Teacher of the Year, Principal of the Year, Superintendent of the Year, Chair of the State Education Assistance Authority (SEAA) Board of Directors, and Director of the Teaching Fellows Program all serve as ex-officio members of the commission.
North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program Highlights:
• The amount of the forgivable loan is up to $4,125 per semester.
• Teachers have up to 10 years to pay back the loan, either through cash repayment or loan forgiveness. In order to meet the loan forgiveness requirement, a teacher is required to serve one year in a low-performing school or two years in another public school for every year they were awarded a forgivable loan.