Financial Aid

Harvard admissions decisions are made without regard to an applicant's financial need. Once a candidate has been admitted, the Financial Aid Office considers the financial aid needs of the candidate. Thus, to be eligible for financial aid in a timely manner, applicants should apply for financial assistance at the same time as they apply for admission. Teacher Education students are eligible for the same financial aid as other Masters candidates at the Graduate School of Education, including grant funding, federal loan opportunities, fellowships, and work study programs.

In addition to these grants, loans, and work-study funding, four fellowships will be available to HGSE masters students in 2009-10: the Urban Scholars Fellowship Program for practitioners committed to working in urban schools; Leadership in Education Awards for top master's degree candidates with strong leadership potential; the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Fellowships in Social Entrepreneurship for students committed to confronting social problems in the United States and around the world; and the Zuckerman Fellows Program at Harvard University for students with backgrounds in business, law, or medicine who wish to engage in the public sector from an interdisciplinary perspective. For information on these fellowships, see merit-based fellowships.

TEP Financial Aid Profile:

• For the class entering in the summer of 2008, 75 percent of TEP students received financial aid.
• 83 percent of those students received some form of grant/scholarship aid.
• As of November 17, $509,878 ($364,598 institutional + $145,280 outside) in total grants/scholarships has been awarded to TEP students, as well as $636,584 in loans.

"Typical" Financial Aid Package for TEP students:

Subsidized Direct Loan $8,500
Unsubsidized Direct Loan $12,000
Perkins Loan $6,000
Federal Work Study $4,000
Need-based Institutional Grant Average $9,400

Additional Awards/Scholarships:

Average Merit-Based Award $16,500
Average Need-Based, Non-HGSE Award $9,600

Outside Loans:

Average Additional Supplemental Loan (Grad PLUS, HELP, etc.) $14,400

In addition, both the Perkins Loan Program and the Direct Loan Program offer Loan Forgiveness Provisions for students who go on to teach in low-income schools, and in certain high-need subjects (Federal Student Aid website):

Perkins: Up to 100% loan forgiveness - 15% for the first year of qualifying, 15% for the second, 20% for the third, 20% for the fourth, and the remainder for the fifth.

Stafford/Direct/FFEL Loans: Loan forgiveness of up to $17,500 for secondary math and science teachers – and of up to $5,000 for any secondary or elementary teachers – who do not have an outstanding balance on an FFEL or Direct Loan as of October 1, 1998; teach full-time in a designated low-income school for five consecutive years; and are certified as a highly qualified teacher per the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

For math and science concentrators:  The Noyce Scholarship Program provides funding for up to 14 of TEP's math and science students per year who will commit to teaching for two years in the Boston Public Schools.

Math and science concentrators should also investigate the teaching fellowships offered by the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation.

For more information about financial aid, as well as downloadable financial aid application materials, please visit www.gse.harvard.edu/admissions/financial_aid.

Information about fellowship programs is available at www.gse.harvard.edu/admissions/financial_aid/fellowships/