Scholarships are available for minority students interested in pursuing a career in teaching, according to the Illinois Students Assistance Commission.Minority students enrolled in an undergrad or graduate teaching program and who meet the academic criteria can receive up to $5,000 per school year. The funds are part of the Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program.
Scholarship recipients must spend a year teaching in a pre-K through 12 school in Illinois where about a third or more of students are minorities. Lynne Baker, spokesperson for ISAC, says the goal is to help minority students get their teaching certificate.
“Then have those students go into schools where you have at least 30 percent minority students so they also have those role models.”
Baker says scholarship applications dropped significantly after the program went unfunded for a year during the state’s budget impasse.
“So if students are eligible for this scholarship, it’s likely they’ll get it because the money is there.”
The deadline to apply for scholarships for the current school year is midnight this Thursday.
More information is available at www.isac.org.