T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Scholarship: How It Works and How to Apply

T.E.A.C.H. stands for Teacher Education And Compensation Helps.

It has run since 1990 as a cost-shared scholarship for the child care workforce, built to tie college coursework to pay and retention — the credits, the compensation increase and the stay-in-your-program commitment arrive as one package.

The model is national; the programs are local.

Each participating state runs its own T.E.A.C.H. program, and the T.E.A.C.H.

Early Childhood National Center — a division of Early Years, formerly Child Care Services Association, in North Carolina — carries the national directory of state programs.

As of October 2026, that directory lists T.E.A.C.H. programs in 21 states.

The design explains the moving parts you meet as a recipient: a state program that sets the terms, a sponsoring child care program that shares costs and provides release time in the state examples we read, and a stay commitment that keeps the finished credential working in child care.

The rest of this page takes those parts one at a time.

One line of disambiguation, because the names collide in search results: this is not the federal TEACH Grant.

The federal TEACH Grant pays students preparing to teach in elementary or secondary schools, and its service obligation has to be met at a school or educational service agency — it is unrelated to the T.E.A.C.H.

Early Childhood scholarship, and working at a child care center does not satisfy it.

In the national model, the scholarship covers most of the cost of tuition, books and travel.

It often requires and supports paid release time — hours your center pays you for while you are in class instead of the classroom.

And once you attain the prescribed number of college credit hours, the model awards increased compensation: a raise or bonus.

The terms vary by state program — three, described on the programs' own pages, show the range:

• Minnesota — T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Minnesota, administered by Child Care Aware of Minnesota, covers 85% of tuition and books for up to 18 semester credits a year, adds a $120-per-semester travel and internet stipend and paid release time, and pays a $500 bonus.
• Alabama — the associate and bachelor's scholarships cover 80% of tuition and 80% of books plus an $80 travel stipend, and the CDA scholarship covers 85% of the assessment fee and pays a $200 bonus when the credential is earned.
• Vermont — the program says it covers 100% of tuition and book fees plus a stipend, requires sponsoring programs to give paid release time, and awards a raise or bonus to recipients who complete 9 to 15 credits. The same page also describes the coverage as a portion of tuition, so the terms may vary by scholarship model.

Those are three programs, not a national table.

Treat every figure as that state's terms as of the October 2026 reading of its page, and confirm your own state's numbers with its program before you plan around them.

T.E.A.C.H. is built as a shared arrangement rather than an individual grant: the national model describes a cost-shared scholarship.

The center's side is concrete in the state examples we read — sponsoring employers contribute money and give release time.

Minnesota's terms make the share explicit: sponsoring employers pay 5% of tuition and books, and Vermont's program requires sponsoring programs to provide the paid release time.

So in the state programs we read, the arrangement runs through a sponsoring employer.

Our research found no single national rule for whether every state requires employer sponsorship — ask yours.

Either way, the conversation starts with your director or owner before it starts with the state program or the college: how the employer share and the release time would work at your center is part of the arrangement, not a detail to settle later.

The conversation with your director goes better with the state program's own terms in hand.

Three questions cover the center's side: what share of tuition and books the center will carry, how release time will be scheduled and covered in your classroom, and who submits the application — you, the director, or both together.

The center has a reason to say yes: the stay commitment is designed to keep a trained teacher in a child care setting.

One concrete example: Minnesota asks recipients to work at least 20 hours a week in a licensed or certified program and to hold a Develop membership.

Beyond examples like that one, our research found no single national rule for the cost split, the covered credentials, wage caps, required work hours or any other eligibility term — each state program decides.

Ask yours what it requires before you count on eligibility.

Every T.E.A.C.H. scholarship has a commitment requirement: after you receive the bonus or raise, you stay in your child care setting for a specified period, and each state program sets that period.

The two examples above show the range.

Minnesota's program asks for a one-year stay with your employer after the scholarship ends.

Vermont's asks for at least 3 months with your employer, then 9 more months in a CDD-regulated program.

The trigger matters when you think about timing: the commitment attaches to receiving the bonus or raise, so the dates in the contract — when the money lands and when the clock starts — are worth reading closely before you sign.

The other half of the deal is finishing: the raise or bonus is awarded once you attain the prescribed number of college credit hours, so the coursework and the commitment are linked.

Retention is the program's stated point — the scholarship ties education to staying in the field, not just to enrolling in it.

As of October 2026, the T.E.A.C.H.

Early Childhood National Center's directory lists programs in 21 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin.

Two directory quirks are worth knowing before you search for your state.

Tennessee appears on the directory only for WAGE$ Tennessee, run by Signal Centers — not for a T.E.A.C.H. scholarship program.

And T.E.A.C.H. is not in every state: the directory did not list California, Texas, Maryland, Mississippi, West Virginia or Alaska as of October 2026, so staff there need other funding routes.

The directory is also the contact sheet — each listed state's entry carries the program's contact information.

North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania are three of the 21; North Carolina is also where the National Center's parent organization, Early Years, is based.

Treat the 21-state list as the October 2026 snapshot it is: programs change, and the directory is the page to re-check when you start planning.

Applications go through your state's T.E.A.C.H. program.

Because the model is cost-shared and the state programs we read run through a sponsoring employer, your center is part of the process.

Four steps cover it:

If your state is not in the directory, treat T.E.A.C.H. as unavailable there as of October 2026 and ask your state's early childhood education office or child care licensing agency what scholarship funding exists for center staff.

If it is listed, the state program's own page — reached through the national directory — is the authority for its current terms.

This page is career information, not licensing or legal advice; confirm current T.E.A.C.H. terms with your state's T.E.A.C.H. program.