(INDIANAPOLIS) –-Prospective Indiana teachers have until November 30, 2019, to apply for the Next Generation Hoosier Educators Scholarship through the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. The scholarship provides up to $7,500 for each year of college – up to $30,000 total – for top-performing Hoosier students who commit to teaching in Indiana for five years after earning their degrees.
With less than a week left to apply for the 2020 program, applications are up 32 percent compared to this time in 2018.
“This scholarship is designed to attract Indiana’s best and brightest to the teaching profession and inspire a new generation of Hoosier educators,” said Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Teresa Lubbers. “Having prepared teachers in the classroom is a key factor affecting students’ academic success.”
Each year, 200 Next Generation Hoosier Educators scholarships are awarded to students across the state in a competitive process based on academic achievement, teacher nomination, and an interview process. Last year, a total of 393 students applied, with applications coming from 212 high schools in 82 of Indiana’s 92 counties.
High school students, as well as college freshmen and sophomores, are eligible for the scholarship, but priority will be given to high school students. To qualify, students must graduate in the highest 20 percent of their high school class or earn a score in the top 20th percentile on the SAT or ACT. To continue earning the scholarship in college, students must earn a 3.0 cumulative grade point average and complete at least 30 credit hours per year.
Finalists will be selected in January 2020 to be interviewed in Indianapolis on March 14, 2020. Students selected to receive the scholarship will be notified by April 3, 2020.
Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma authored legislation that created the Next Generation Hoosier Educators Scholarship, which received bipartisan support during the 2016 legislative session. While the majority of the inaugural 2017 cohort will graduate in May 2021, the scholarship has already helped over 40 Hoosiers become licensed teachers, with more than 500 in the pipeline to become licensed teachers.
Visit LearnMoreIndiana.org/NextTeacher for more information and to apply. Follow #NextTeacher on social media.
