North Carolina Community College Foundation Endowment for Teacher Preparation
The GlaxoSmithKline Foundation, Inc., the North Carolina General Assembly and Bank of America have contributed more than $2 million toward the establishment of an endowment within the North Carolina Community College Foundation to support an expanded role for North Carolina’s community colleges in teacher preparation.
Eligibility and priorities: Preference in awarding grants to students who meet one or more of the following qualifications:
- Students who are “career changers” who have returned to school from other occupations or from home responsibilities.
- Students preparing to teach mathematics or science in middle or high school.
- Students enrolled in community colleges serving low-wealth counties, as designated by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (Burke, Caldwell, Lincoln and Wilkes are a few of these identified counties, for a complete list see Financial Aid).
- Students must have completed the FAFSA.
Funding, Conditions and Requirements: The Foundation will award grants once per academic year. The total award per recipients will be $2,500 per semester for up to two consecutive semesters of full-time study (a minimum of 12 hours per semester).
Receipt of second semester funds will be contingent upon satisfactory academic performance, with a minimum grade point average of 2.7 on a 4.0 scale, and progress toward the community college degree.
Recipients may re-apply for a second year of funding.
Acceptance of the grants carries with it the following obligations:
- Recipient must complete all credentials and begin work as a teacher in a public or charter school in a low-wealth county in North Carolina within six years of the first grant award.
- Recipient must teach two full years for each full year of scholarship grants. The first two years of the obligation must be completed within eight years of the grant award. Any additional obligation must be completed within ten years.
- Recipient must attend, if invited, a meeting of the Foundation or other appropriate group to report on the impact of the scholarship grant on his or her experience in preparing to teach.
- Recipient must sign a promissory note for each award which will be forgiven when the teaching obligation is fulfilled. The terms of the note will provide for a payback as noted in paragraph 2.
- Recipients who are unable to meet these obligations will be required to repay the grant within ten years of the grant award.
Application Process: Applications will be made available through the Financial Aid Office once they are received from the North Carolina Community College System Office. They will be placed on the CCC&TI Financial Aid Scholarship Bulletin Boards and on the Financial Aid website. These are generally released late summer.