When I was in college, I worked as a summer intern at the New York City headquarters of Teach For America. As many people already know, Teach For America is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to closing the education gap in America. In essence, Teach For America coordinates teaching jobs for individuals who wish to serve as a teacher in an underserved community for a few years. Working at Teach For America can be a wonderful experience, and Teach For America can help with student loans in the right circumstances.
AmeriCorps Educational Awards
People who teach through Teach For America are typically considered AmeriCorps members. As a result, they are usually entitled to some of the same awards and benefits as other corps members of AmeriCorps. One of the AmeriCorps benefits that is usually available to Teach For America corps members is the Segal Educational Award. This award is typically worth thousands of dollars for every year of qualifying service completed by an AmeriCorps member. This educational award can be used on tuition and other educational expenses.
I worked for AmeriCorps during my first two summers in college, and this was a great experience. As such, I was entitled to AmeriCorps educational awards, albeit the money I received was lower than the award provided to full-time corps members. In any event, people who teach through Teach For America should investigate whether they are eligible for this educational assistance since this could help lower their educational burden.
Graduate School Assistance
Teach For America can help with student loans for people who wish to enter certain graduate programs. For instance, corps members often work toward graduate degrees in education while they work at Teach For America. In certain instances, graduate programs will reduce costs for Teach For America corps members and in some instances, corps members may be able to earn graduate degrees nearly for free. Individuals should conduct their research about whether they can obtain graduate school assistance while working at Teach For America. Each region in which corps members work has different connections to local universities and the terms of such assistance may differ widely by region.
Moreover, graduate programs may offer educational assistance to individuals who enroll in such programs after they finish their work for Teach For America. Graduate programs understand that individuals who worked at Teach For America are committed to public interest pursuits and have life experiences that may be beneficial to a graduate cohort. In order to attract Teach For America alumni to a program, schools may offer assistance to people who worked at Teach For America.
Better Admission Prospects
Another way that Teach For America can help with student loans is indirectly since academic programs may admit you because of your work at Teach For America. As discussed on many of the graduate school admission forums I troll from time to time, working at Teach For America is a solid “soft” factor that could have an impact on admissions decisions. Indeed, working for this organization could show admissions professionals that you are interested in public interest matters and wish to promote worthwhile goals.
As discussed in several prior articles on this website, better academic programs typically offer more educational assistance to students. This includes need-based financial aid for those who are eligible, scholarships, and other resources. Such resources can help less your student debt burden, and the need-based financial aid I was awarded in college and law school helped lessen my educational burdens. In any event, individuals hoping to pursue a graduate education should consider working at Teach For America if they are interested in education and inequality since this experience can help them during the graduate school admission process.
Better Employment Prospects
A different way that Teach For America can help with student loans is because this experience may make it easier to secure employment after you complete your teaching work. Employers oftentimes like to hire workers who are motivated and can be self-starters. This makes it easier to manage employees and helps ensure that the employee will be a valued member of a team. Sometimes, it can be difficult for an employer to gauge whether a job candidate has the energy and drive to be an asset for their employer.
However, people who work at Teach For America need to resourceful in how they teach because they are not always provided the highest level of resources to complete their jobs. In addition, Teach For America corps members are motivated and driven because they are dedicating a few years of their lives in order to promote the goal of decreasing the educational gap in the United States. Moreover, Teach For America workers have leadership skills because they need to stand up in front of a class and inspire students to complete their assignments. Moreover, people who work for Teach For America are often good at multi-tasking because managing a class of hundreds of students often requires teachers to complete several tasks at once. All of these skills are coveted by employers.
All told, I am a huge fan of Teach For America because it was a great place to work as a summer intern and the organization is aimed at solving one of the biggest inequities in America. Not only can working at Teach For America be a meaningful experience, but it can also help you reduce your educational expenses.