Minnesota Teacher Shortage Loan Repayment Program

If you have questions about this program, please contact the staff member listed on this page via email. If a staff member is not listed, please email info.ohe@state.mn.us and provide a detailed description of your question.

If you are going to apply for this program, you will be asked if you have read this page before you can apply.

The Minnesota Teacher Shortage Student Loan Repayment Program was established to provide student loan repayment assistance to teachers providing classroom instruction in a teacher shortage area in Minnesota. The purpose of the program is to encourage teachers to teach in license shortage areas and rural school districts. (See the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for a list of the current shortage areas and rural school districts).

Who is Eligible to Apply?

In general, applicants must currently:

Hold a teaching license issued by the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board.
Be employed by a school district to provide classroom instruction
Have outstanding qualified educational loan debt; and
Teach in a license field shortage area, teach in a rural school district, or belong to a racial or ethnic group underrepresented in the Minnesota teacher workforce.

What's the Application Process?

The application for the 2022 Minnesota Teacher Shortage Loan Repayment Program is now closed.

Applicants who meet the eligibility requirements will be notified if they are selected for application review in October. Those applicants will be asked to provide additional documentation to verify the information on the application by December 16^th.
Awards will be disbursed in spring 2023.

If you submitted a 2022 application and have been selected for verification, the documents below are required to complete the verification process.

What's the Selection Process?

Awards for this program are not made on a first-come, first-served basis.
The Office of Higher Education adopted administrative rules addressing the criteria for how participant awards will be prioritized. If there are insufficient funds available to award all eligible applicants, applications are prioritized based on the following:

the financial need of an applicant, considering the applicant's income, household size, and total qualified educational loan;
previous awards to the applicant from the Teacher Shortage Loan Repayment Program;
whether or not the applicant taught in a license field shortage area;
whether or not the applicant taught in a rural school district;
whether or not the applicant belongs to a racial or ethnic group underrepresented in the Minnesota teacher workforce; and
the statewide distribution of funds

Teacher Shortage Student Loan Repayment rules

How much money can you get?

Funds are very limited to this program compared to the number of eligible applicants. Selected applicants receive an award up to $1,000 in loan repayment assistance paid directly to them. Awardees are limited to $5,000 in total repayment assistance.

View Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about this program.