Financial Information
Costs You’ll Incur
At Teach For America, we believe a commitment to educational excellence means providing our corps members with the support and resources they need to focus on what matters—student impact. That’s why we aim to provide a measure of financial support in your transition to the corps.
We want to make sure you understand the costs you can anticipate to incur and the financial support available to you to make this transition more financially feasible for you. While Teach For America is not able to provide financial advice, as we are not financial advisors, we have pulled together resources and alumni tips that will assist you in planning for your transition. These costs are a prediction based on recent Corps Member experiences. Costs may change throughout the year and will be different depending on each person’s situation. We will update costs accordingly. If you have questions or concerns please reach out to the regional team.
Financial Costs & Support
Financial Costs & Supports
Over your Pre-Service experience, Teach For America offers a transitional stipend of $4,000 to help cover your summer cost of living expenses before you receive your first paycheck during the school year. For corps members who were PELL grant recipients AND are undergrads or recent graduates as of June 2023, you qualify for an additional $3,000 stipend.
Corps Members can also apply for need-based financial support. This comes in the form of either additional grants or a 0% interest loan. It is encouraged for corps members to apply for this funding to see what is offered to you. You are not required to accept the additional funding but it can be helpful to see your whole financial picture.
For some of the onboarding expenses in late winter/early spring, you’ll have the option to access some of your stipend early to help pay for those costs. Teach For America will pay for your content exam costs. You can look through the regional cost guide here (coming soon).
For more information about tuition costs at our Certification Partners, please visit the Certification Partners page and click into your specific partner you’ll be attending.
AmeriCorps
Corps Members may be eligible to receive federal funding to help pay off student loans, cover some of the costs incurred while earning your teaching certification, and loan forbearance. For the 2024-2025 school year, the value of the full AmeriCorps Award is $7,395. As this program is funded through annual Congressional approval, benefits are not guaranteed. We recognize these awards are highly valued by Corps Members and we're doing everything we can to ensure these awards will continue to be available.