Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program

To be eligible, you must:

• be a U.S. citizen or an eligible non-citizen or meet the “undocumented student” criteria of the RISE Act

• be a resident of Illinois

• be a minority student of either African American/Black, Hispanic American, Asian American or Native American origin

• be a high school graduate or hold a General Educational Development (GED) certificate

• be enrolled or accepted for enrollment on at least a half-time basis as an undergraduate or graduate student

• be enrolled or accepted for enrollment at an Illinois institution of higher education in a course of study which, upon completion, qualifies you to be licensed as a preschool, elementary or secondary school teacher by the Illinois State Board of Education, including alternative teacher licensure

• have earned a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale if enrolled at the sophomore, junior, senior or graduate level

• maintain satisfactory academic progress as determined by your college

• comply with federal Selective Service registration requirements (see the note at the top of this section for possible exceptions)

• complete the application process by:

• submitting a fully-completed Minority Teachers of Illinois (MTI) Scholarship Program application, which includes the Teaching Agreement/Promissory Note (in order to receive priority consideration for an award, the complete application must be received at ISAC on or before the March 1 immediately preceding the academic year for which the scholarship is requested),

• being certified as meeting eligibility requirements by the college at which you will use the scholarship, and
  accepting the scholarship (if one is offered)

• sign the application’s Teaching Agreement/Promissory Note promising to fulfill the teaching commitment or repay funds received plus interest

• the teaching commitment for this program must be fulfilled at a nonprofit Illinois public, private, or parochial preschool, elementary school, or secondary school, for which the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has determined that no less than 30 percent of the enrolled students are African American/Black, Asian American, Hispanic American, or Native American

• the percentage of an Illinois school’s enrolled students meeting minority status requirements can be found at ISBE’s eReport Card Public Site by using the “Search: School, District, and State Report Cards” function to locate a specific school and then clicking on that school’s name.

• not be in default on any student loan, nor owe a refund on any state or federal grant. If you are in default, you may re-establish your eligibility.

• not have previously received funds from the MTI Scholarship Program for the equivalent of four academic years, which is the program maximum

• not receive funds from the Illinois Special Education Teacher Tuition Waiver (SETTW) Program or the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois Program during the same term(s) for which you receive funds from the MTI Scholarship Program