On August 5th, NASFAA published an article titled TEACH Grants: Something Old, Something New that highlighted information provided at NASFAA's conference in San Antonio. NASFAA has received information from the Department of Education clarifying one of the issues addressed in the article.
The August 5th article stated in part:
Many members have had questions regarding the counseling requirements for the TEACH Grant Program. Recipients must complete counseling a least once a year. The presenter clarified that a student must complete counseling before the first disbursement of any TEACH Grant award. Depending on a student’s enrollment pattern, it is possible that a student would have to receive counseling more than once a year. For example, a full-time student would receive his first TEACH Grant of $4,000 for attendance in the fall and spring semesters. If he enrolls full time for the summer term, he is eligible to receive a disbursement from a second TEACH Grant award. Before receiving the disbursement, the student would need to complete subsequent counseling even though he completed initial counseling less than 12 months earlier before receiving TEACH Grant funds for the fall semester.
The Department has clarified how the reporting of a third disbursement affects counseling requirements. In order for the Department not to require a second Agreement to Serve (ATS) and subsequent counseling for a third disbursement within a 12-month period, the school must report the third disbursement as part of the same award year as the fall and spring disbursements. For example, a student completed an ATS and initial counseling for the 2008-09 award year, and received fall and spring term disbursements attributed to 2008-09. If the school attempted to report a summer disbursement as part of the 2009-10 award year, the third disbursement would be rejected because the student would first have to complete subsequent counseling as well as an ATS for 2009-10. As long as the school attributes all TEACH Grant disbursements within a consecutive 12-month period to the same award year, a student need only receive the required counseling once.
It is important to keep in mind that, unlike the Federal Pell Grant Program, there is no award-year progression in the TEACH Grant Program. In other words, an eligible student may continue to receive consecutive disbursements until reaching the aggregate amount for which he or she is eligible. Therefore, even if a student has already received a full $4,000 TEACH Grant award for an award year, a student can receive additional funds for payment periods attributable to the same award year.
By Jennifer Martin
NASFAA Assistant Director for Professional Assessment, Training, and Regulatory Assistance
Posted 08/28/09 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.
