T.E.A.C.H. scholarships offer financial support for tuition and books, release time from work, and bonuses or raises for early childhood teachers who want to work on degrees in early childhood education.
You may qualify for a scholarship if you:
--Work at least 30 hours a week as a teacher or director at a child care center licensed by the Children, Youth and Families Department or recognized by a Native American tribe; a public school NM PreK site; or a registered or licensed family child care home.
--Are currently enrolled or are interested in enrolling in an early childhood education degree program at a public college or university in New Mexico.
--Are willing to commit to work at your current program for the year of the scholarship plus one additional year.
--Think that your employer will be willing to pay a portion of the scholarship costs and in many cases provide paid release time from work (which T.E.A.C.H. will help pay for).
Applications are taken at all times. Occasionally we post a deadline for applications for a particular semester because we want to award contracts in time for students to register for classes.
Note that T.E.A.C.H. scholarships are only available for people who are currently working in early childhood programs. Scholarships are NOT available for college programs such as elementary education or family studies, only early childhood education.
Scholarships are awarded for one year at a time, and recipients working on undergraduate degrees are expected to complete at least 9 credit hours of classes within the year. Note that students can fulfill the requirements of the contract by taking about one class per semester, which is enough work for many students.
T.E.A.C.H. scholarships have been demonstrated to reduce teacher turnover, help increase compensation (partly through providing raises and bonuses under the scholarship), and boost the educational level of early childhood teachers, many of whom have no or little college education.
All participants contribute to making T.E.A.C.H. scholarships work. Early childhood programs or schools all pay a portion of costs for T.E.A.C.H. scholarships; the T.E.A.C.H. scholar also contributes. This creates a partnership among the student, T.E.A.C.H., and the student’s employer.
The programs and schools have a variety of ways they can contribute to supporting the scholarship.
T.E.A.C.H., which has been active in New Mexico since 2004, is administered by the New Mexico Association for the Education of Young Children, which is licensed by Child Care Services Association in North Carolina, the T.E.A.C.H. parent office, to offer scholarships in the state.
Funding for New Mexico scholarships come from a variety of sources:
--Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) with federal Child Care Development Block Grant funds.
--New Mexico PreK with state general funds managed through the NM Public Education Department and CYFD.
--N.M. Head Start Collaboration Office.
--New Mexico SPARK, an initiative of the NM Community Foundation with funding from the Kellogg Foundation.
--Individual donors to the Lenore Wolfe Scholarship Fund.
--Another private foundation.
If you want to talk to a T.E.A.C.H. counselor about the scholarships or want brochures or application forms, please call (505) 243-5437. Program directors and principals may call the counselors to get estimates on costs for program or school participation.
You may also email Project Director Dan Ritchey at
or email one of the counselors:
Andrea Bahe at
or Susan Perry at