Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program: The Teachers of Illinois Scholarship Program encourages academically talented students to pursue careers as teachers at eligible Illinois public preschool, elementary and secondary schools. Students may qualify for up to $7,500 per year. The scholarship may be received for a maximum of 8 semesters or 12 quarters of assistance. A student must sign an agreement promising to begin teaching within one year at an Illinois school district:
- that has a 3-year average teacher vacancy rate above the state average, or;
where the number of teacher vacancies in the district over the past three years is higher than that of the state - Recipients must teach one year for each year of scholarship assistance received and shall teach on a continuous basis for the required period of time.
If the teaching obligation is not fulfilled, the scholarship converts to a loan at a 5% interest rate and the entire amount received, prorated to the fraction of the teaching obligation not completed, must be repaid.