Graduate Grants and Scholarships

Graduate Scholarships

Viking Scholarships

Current Salem State students are invited to apply for endowed scholarships through the Viking Scholarship Portal.

Students can submit the general scholarship application through the Viking Scholarship Portal to be automatically matched to scholarships for which they qualify. 

The Viking Scholarship general application is open from December 1 to March 1 each year. Students will be notified of their award before the billing due date. 

Learn more about the Viking Scholarship process. 

Graduate Fellowships and Service Opportunities

For more information on fellowships and service opportunities, please visit the Fellowships and Service Opportunities page.

Graduate Grants

Federal TEACH Grant

The Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grant (TEACH Grant) program provides grants up to $4,000 per year to graduate students enrolled in an eligible program of study who intend to serve as full-time, highly qualified teachers at a public or private elementary or secondary school serving students from low-income families and to teach in a high-need field.

Unlike other federal grants, the TEACH Grant requires students to agree to complete a teaching service obligation as a condition of receiving the grant. If you don't complete the service obligation, the TEACH Grant will be converted to a direct unsubsidized loan that must be repaid with interest.

TEACH Grant Process at Salem State

Before applying for the TEACH Grant, applicants must review the Salem State TEACH Grant Eligible Program List. If your program of study isn’t listed, you are not eligible for a TEACH Grant.

Graduate students self-identify and submit the following documents:

• Salem State TEACH Grant Application
• Current, Former, and Retired Teacher Verification Worksheet

Students are strongly urged to read the TEACH Grant information page before applying for a Federal TEACH grant.

What Are High-Need Fields?

High-need fields are:

• Mathematics;
• Science, including, but not limited to, computer science;
• Foreign language;
• Bilingual education;
• English language acquisition;
• Reading specialist;
• Special education; or
• Any other field that has been identified as high-need in the annual Teacher Shortage Area Nationwide Listing (Nationwide List).

If students plan to teach in a high-need field included in the Nationwide List, that field must be listed for the state where they are teaching:

• At the time they begin teaching in that field, even if that field is later removed from the Nationwide List, or
• At the time they signed your Agreement or received their TEACH Grant, even if that field is no longer designated as high-need when you begin teaching.

TEACH Grant Counseling

Each year, students must complete TEACH Grant counseling, which explains the terms and conditions of the TEACH Grant service obligation and the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay.

Upon graduation or withdrawal from the university, students must complete TEACH Grant Exit Counseling.

TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay

Each year a student receives a TEACH Grant, they must sign an Agreement to Serve or Repay (Agreement) on the TEACH Grant page. The Agreement explains the terms and conditions for receiving a TEACH Grant.

By signing the Agreement, they agree to these terms and conditions and acknowledge that if they do not fulfill the service obligation described in the Agreement, the TEACH Grant funds they received will be converted into a loan that they must repay.

TEACH Grant Service Obligation

In exchange for receiving a TEACH Grant, recipients must agree to:

• Serve as a full-time teacher for 4 elementary or secondary school years at a school or Educational Service Agency (ESA) that serves low-income students;
• Meet all state certification requirements for teaching.
• Teach in a high-need field; and
• Complete the required four years of teaching within eight years after they have graduated or otherwise cease to be enrolled at the institution of higher education where they received their TEACH Grants.
• If they do not meet the requirements of their service obligation, all TEACH Grants they received will be converted to Direct Unsubsidized Loans that must be repaid in full, with interest accruing from the date of each TEACH Grant disbursement.

Recipients must complete one four-year service obligation for each TEACH Grant they receive for undergraduate study and another for each TEACH Grant they receive for graduate study.

If they have more than one service obligation, in some cases, the same teaching service can satisfy some or all of each obligation. For more information and examples, refer to the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve or Repay.

For TEACH Grant service obligation suspensions, please visit studentaid.gov.

Documenting Qualified Teaching Service

Recipients must provide documentation of that teaching service at the end of each year during the four years of required teaching. Certification forms and documents can be submitted online at studentaid.gov.

The TEACH Grant Certification Form must be certified by the chief administrative officer (CAO) of the school or Educational Service Agency (ESA) where the recipient taught and must confirm for each school year:

• The recipient taught at a low-income school or ESA.
• The recipient met all state certification requirements for teaching.
• More than half of the classes the recipient taught during the school year, in which they were certified, were in a high-need field.