Teachers working in designated teacher shortage areas in Minnesota may now qualify for help with their student loan payments. The Minnesota Office of Higher Education (OHE) recently announced an assistance program for teachers with student loans.

The Minnesota Teacher Shortage Student Loan Repayment Program, created in 2015, is intended to encourage teachers to teach in Minnesota in designated shortage areas by providing assistance with their student loan repayments.

In general, applicants must currently:

• Hold a teaching license issued by the licensing division in the Minnesota Department of Education on behalf of the Board of Teaching
• Be employed by a school district to provide classroom instruction
• Teach in a designated teacher shortage area; and
• Have outstanding qualified educational loan debt.

Qualifying teachers who apply by June 30, 2016, may be eligible for repayment assistance of $1,000 per year, up to a total of $5,000. OHE estimates that 194 awards will be made for the 2015-2016 award year, with as many as 1,940 annual awards made through 2019.

More information about the program can be found here. See the list of qualifying shortage areas.

The Teacher Shortage Student Loan Repayment Program application is online here.

Please share this information with interested friends or colleagues. For more information, contact Sandy Connolly at 651-259-3902 or by email at sandy.connolly@state.mn.us.