Financing Teacher Preparation: A National Landscape of Needs and Policy Solutions

• In Event: Mitigating Financial Barriers for Teaching Candidates: Federal, State, and Local Approaches to Service Scholarships

Abstract

Recruiting and retaining a well-prepared, stable, and diverse teacher workforce is critical to advance student learning and development. Unfortunately, the teaching profession has been characterized by relatively lower levels of compensation compared to other professions that require equivalent levels of educational attainment (Allegretto, 2024), and salaries are often cited both as a reason why college students do not pursue teaching and as a driver of attrition among current teachers (Sherratt et al., 2023).

One potential barrier to entering and staying in the teaching profession is high preparation costs. While these costs vary depending on the duration, structure, and state requirements, most teachers are required—at a minimum—to have a bachelor’s degree (Tooley, 2023). Just over half of new teachers enter through undergraduate preparation programs (Doan et al., 2022), and the average net price (i.e., what students or families pay after grant aid) for undergraduate education has increased by close to 50% over the past two decades (Ma & Pender, 2022). More than half of teacher now report having graduate degrees (U.S. Department of Education, 2022), and the average debt amount reported by graduates of Master in Education programs has increased by more than 70% since 2000 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2018). Given these rising costs, this presentation will describe the national landscape of financial needs among teachers and teaching candidates as well as policies meant to support those needs.

This presentation will begin with findings from recent analyses that capture the financial needs of teaching candidates and educational debt incurred by public school teachers. This analysis used the U.S. Department of Education’s National Teacher and Principal Survey and Teacher Follow-up Survey to estimate borrowing and repayment rates among public school teachers nationally. More than 6 in 10 of all public schools teachers have taken out student loans to support their education, and close to 4 in 10 are still repaying them. Student loan borrowing and repayment rates are highest among early career teachers, special education teachers, and Black teachers. These loans require many teachers to take second jobs and result in high levels of loan-related stress. Further analyses will describe the specific sources of loans taken out by teachers and the relationship between loan holding and turnover.

The presentation will then summarize the types of federal, state, and local efforts that can be used to subsidize the costs of teacher preparation, with a specific focus on service scholarships (Podolsky & Kini, 2016). Given the uncertain and shifting federal policy landscape, this presentation will offer up-to-date information on the numerous federal programs that have supported teacher preparation as well as discuss how changes to federal programs have many downstream effects on teacher preparation providers and candidates. Finally, this presentation will discuss the blending and braiding of different preparation program financial supports that have been used to better subsidize the cost of teacher preparation and reduce teaching candidates’ need to take on debt to cover the costs of preparation.

Author

• Wesley Wei, Learning Policy Institute