TEACH Improvement Act of 2026

Key Points

• The bill raises TEACH Grant amounts for future teachers to $4,000 a year for the first two years of college and $5,000 a year after that, with a $18,000 lifetime cap for undergrads and $10,000 for graduate students.
• To keep the grant instead of paying it back as a loan, recipients must teach full time for 4 years within 8 years in a high-need field at a qualifying low-income school.
• If someone doesn't finish their teaching service, only the unfinished portion of the grant turns into a loan, rather than the whole amount, based on how much service is left undone.
• Colleges where half or more of grant recipients end up converting to loans over three years lose the ability to offer new TEACH Grants for three years; a 40 percent conversion rate triggers lighter penalties like mandatory counseling and a task force.
• Teachers who believe their grant was wrongly converted to a loan can ask the government to reverse it, which would restore the grant, erase added interest and fees, and clean up their credit report.
• To qualify for a grant, students generally need a 3.25 GPA or a test score above the 75th percentile, and must agree to teach subjects like math, science, special education, or foreign languages.