Illinois Special Education Teacher Tuition Waiver (SETTW) Program

Eligibility

Illinois Special Education Teacher Tuition Waiver (SETTW) Program offers 250 awards that vary in amount. Location restrictions exist.

Description

If you are a teacher or an academically talented student pursuing a career in special education, you may be eligible for the Illinois Special Education Teacher Tuition Waiver Program if you teach at one of the following Illinois schools that has been approved by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE): a nonprofit public, private or parochial preschool; or a nonprofit public, private or parochial elementary school; or a nonprofit public, private or parochial secondary school. By receiving the tuition waiver, you must teach in Illinois in the field of special education. If this teaching commitment is not fulfilled, the amount of benefits received converts to a loan, and you must repay the entire amount plus interest. Applicants must meet one of the following conditions: they are a high school graduate; or they are scheduled to graduate from an approved high school by the end of the academic year in which the award is made and they performed in the upper half of their graduating class according to performance-based academic data provided by the high school; or they hold a valid teaching license that is not in the discipline of special education. Applicants must be enrolled in a program of special education within 10 days after the beginning of the term for which the waiver was initially awarded. Applications submitted after the priority deadline date will be given consideration for the award if, after the initial round of awarding, all 250 available tuition waivers have not been awarded. Please visit the program's website or contact ISAC for more information.