NPR Series: The Trouble With TEACH Grants https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=672219778 In a series of reports, NPR investigates how federal grants that public school teachers received to work in low-income schools were converted to loans that they now must pay back. en Copyright 2024 NPR - For Personal Use Only Story API Shim 1.2.24 Mon, 07 Apr 2025 16:10:31 -0400 https://media.npr.org/images/podcasts/primary/npr_generic_image_300.jpg?s=200 NPR Series: The Trouble With TEACH Grants https://www.npr.org/series/672219778/the-trouble-with-teach-grants More Than 6,500 Teachers Have Had Unfair Student Debts Erased After an NPR investigation led to an overhaul of the troubled TEACH Grant program, the U.S. Department of Education says teachers have had nearly $44 million in loans turned back into grants. Sat, 22 Aug 2020 07:00:53 -0400 https://www.npr.org/2020/08/22/904745312/more-than-6-500-teachers-have-had-unfair-student-debts-erased https://www.npr.org/2020/08/22/904745312/more-than-6-500-teachers-have-had-unfair-student-debts-erased

After an NPR investigation led to an overhaul of the troubled TEACH Grant program, the U.S. Department of Education says teachers have had nearly $44 million in loans turned back into grants.

]]> Cory Turner Teachers Begin To See Unfair Student Loans Disappear The Department of Education is expanding a fix to its troubled TEACH Grant program, giving millions of dollars of grant money back to public school teachers working in the country's neediest schools. Fri, 03 May 2019 05:01:00 -0400 https://www.npr.org/2019/05/03/711373657/teachers-begin-to-see-unfair-student-loans-disappear https://www.npr.org/2019/05/03/711373657/teachers-begin-to-see-unfair-student-loans-disappear

The Department of Education is expanding a fix to its troubled TEACH Grant program, giving millions of dollars of grant money back to public school teachers working in the country's neediest schools.

]]> Chris Arnold Education Department Plans To Fix Flawed Federal Grant Program An NPR exclusive: The Education Department has announced a plan to help public school teachers wrongly hit with debts, sometimes more than $20,000, because of a troubled federal grant program. Mon, 10 Dec 2018 16:22:00 -0500 https://www.npr.org/2018/12/10/675382671/education-department-plans-to-fix-flawed-federal-grant-program https://www.npr.org/2018/12/10/675382671/education-department-plans-to-fix-flawed-federal-grant-program An NPR exclusive: The Education Department has announced a plan to help public school teachers wrongly hit with debts, sometimes more than $20,000, because of a troubled federal grant program.

]]> Cory Turner Were Your TEACH Grants Converted To Loans While Teaching At A Qualifying School? If you're one of the thousands of teachers who had grants converted to loans even though you were meeting the teaching requirements of the TEACH Grants program — we want to hear from you. Sun, 09 Dec 2018 19:00:27 -0500 https://www.npr.org/2018/12/09/675132967/were-your-teach-grants-converted-to-loans-while-teaching-at-a-qualifying-school https://www.npr.org/2018/12/09/675132967/were-your-teach-grants-converted-to-loans-while-teaching-at-a-qualifying-school

If you're one of the thousands of teachers who had grants converted to loans even though you were meeting the teaching requirements of the TEACH Grants program — we want to hear from you.

]]> Chris Arnold Exclusive: Ed Department To Erase Debts Of Teachers, Fix Troubled Grant Program The move follows an NPR investigation that found thousands of teachers had grants unfairly converted to loans. Sun, 09 Dec 2018 19:00:00 -0500 https://www.npr.org/2018/12/09/664317114/exclusive-ed-department-to-erase-debts-of-teachers-fix-troubled-grant-program https://www.npr.org/2018/12/09/664317114/exclusive-ed-department-to-erase-debts-of-teachers-fix-troubled-grant-program

The move follows an NPR investigation that found thousands of teachers had grants unfairly converted to loans.

]]> Chris Arnold Senators To DeVos On TEACH Grant Debacle: 'Urgent That These Mistakes Are Fixed' Documents obtained by NPR show that nearly 11,000 TEACH recipients may have lost their grants because of mistakes by the loan servicer, but only a small fraction of the problems were ever fixed. Mon, 02 Jul 2018 11:38:00 -0400 https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/07/02/624278514/senators-to-devos-on-teach-grant-debacle-urgent-that-these-mistakes-are-fixed https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/07/02/624278514/senators-to-devos-on-teach-grant-debacle-urgent-that-these-mistakes-are-fixed

Documents obtained by NPR show that nearly 11,000 TEACH recipients may have lost their grants because of mistakes by the loan servicer, but only a small fraction of the problems were ever fixed.

]]> Cory Turner Education Secretary DeVos Acknowledges Problems With Teacher Grant Program In response to exclusive NPR reporting into a troubled federal grant program for public school teachers, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told Congressional leaders Tuesday that she is aware of the program's problems and has taken steps to fix it. Tue, 22 May 2018 16:37:00 -0400 https://www.npr.org/2018/05/22/613449468/education-secretary-devos-acknowledges-problems-with-teacher-grant-program https://www.npr.org/2018/05/22/613449468/education-secretary-devos-acknowledges-problems-with-teacher-grant-program In response to exclusive NPR reporting into a troubled federal grant program for public school teachers, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told Congressional leaders Tuesday that she is aware of the program's problems and has taken steps to fix it.

]]> Cory Turner Education Department Launches 'Top-To-Bottom' Review Of Teachers' Grant Program Public school teachers across the country say they've been improperly hit with thousands of dollars in debt when paperwork errors turned their grants into loans that they're now supposed to pay back. Tue, 22 May 2018 05:00:00 -0400 https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/05/22/605248637/education-department-launches-top-to-bottom-review-of-teachers-grant-program https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/05/22/605248637/education-department-launches-top-to-bottom-review-of-teachers-grant-program

Public school teachers across the country say they've been improperly hit with thousands of dollars in debt when paperwork errors turned their grants into loans that they're now supposed to pay back.

]]> Chris Arnold Teachers Share Anger, Frustration Over Grants Turned Into Loans A federal program meant to encourage young teachers has, instead, saddled thousands of them with unexpected debts. "I was in shock," says Mikayla Rhone, a teacher in Nebraska. Mon, 23 Apr 2018 06:00:00 -0400 https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/04/23/600949682/teachers-share-anger-frustration-over-grants-turned-into-loans https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/04/23/600949682/teachers-share-anger-frustration-over-grants-turned-into-loans

A federal program meant to encourage young teachers has, instead, saddled thousands of them with unexpected debts. "I was in shock," says Mikayla Rhone, a teacher in Nebraska.

]]> Cory Turner Why Teachers In High-Need Areas Are Now Saddled With Debt A new government study obtained by NPR finds that thousands of teachers have had their federal grants taken away and converted to loans, often for minor paperwork errors. Wed, 28 Mar 2018 16:25:00 -0400 https://www.npr.org/2018/03/28/597750644/why-teachers-in-high-need-areas-are-now-saddled-with-debt https://www.npr.org/2018/03/28/597750644/why-teachers-in-high-need-areas-are-now-saddled-with-debt A new government study obtained by NPR finds that thousands of teachers have had their federal grants taken away and converted to loans, often for minor paperwork errors.

]]> Chris Arnold