State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Connecticut > Title10a > Chap186 > Sec10a-163Sec. 10a-163. (Formerly Sec. 10-116n). Teacher incentive loan program for training in areas of teacher shortages. Eligibility requirements. Loan repayment and forgiveness provisions. (a) There is established a teacher incentive loan program which shall be administered by the Board of Governors of Higher Education of the state system of higher education.
(b) The Commissioner of Education may, by December first, annually, determine a maximum of five fields in which a critical shortage of teachers exists and certify the shortage to the Board of Governors of Higher Education. In determining fields of critical teacher shortages, the commissioner shall consider the following, including but not limited to: (1) The number of teacher vacancies in a particular field of study; (2) the number of new certificates in a particular field of study issued by the state Department of Education during the preceding year; and (3) the number and types of classes being taught by persons whose training is not specific to the field in which they are teaching.
(c) Full-time undergraduate students in their junior or senior years and full-time graduate students who have been admitted to a teacher education program approved by the State Board of Education and accredited by the Board of Governors of Higher Education and which prepares an individual for teaching in a field designated by the Commissioner of Education as an area of critical teacher shortage shall, within available appropriations, be eligible for student loans under this program in an amount not greater than five thousand dollars per year for not more than two years.
(d) Independent and public sectors of higher education shall be allotted a portion of available teacher incentive loan program nominations based upon the sector's percentage of provisional teaching certificates awarded by the state Department of Education to persons who graduate from eligible institutions during the preceding twelve-month period. For the purposes of this section, an eligible institution shall mean an independent college or university, as defined in section 10a-37, or a public college or university, as defined in section 10a-1, which offers approved teacher education programs. Eighty per cent of all nominations allotted to a particular sector shall be distributed to colleges with the teacher education programs on the basis of the number of provisional teaching certificates awarded to graduates of colleges within that sector during the previous twelve-month period. The remaining twenty per cent of available nominations to colleges within each sector shall be assigned by the Commissioner of Higher Education taking into consideration the number of teacher education programs or unique programs in shortage areas available at each eligible college.
(e) Loan candidates shall be nominated by eligible institutions to the Department of Higher Education. Nominations shall be based upon, but not limited to, the following criteria: (1) The candidate's academic standing; and (2) the candidate's performance in courses necessary to teach in a designated area of critical shortage. In the event the number of eligible and qualified students applying for such loans is in excess of the number of loans available, Connecticut residency and financial need may be considered in determining nominees.
(f) (1) Loan repayment and interest charges shall commence twelve months after the loan recipient has terminated at least half-time student status. Students who render services as a certified teacher in a Connecticut public school in an area of critical teacher shortage or, on and after July 1, 1989, in a private special education facility approved by the State Board of Education, on at least a half-time basis as certified by the local superintendent of schools, or by the authority responsible for the operation of such special education facility, shall have their loans forgiven as follows: Ten per cent forgiveness of the total amount borrowed upon the completion of one year of teaching; twenty-five per cent forgiveness of the total amount borrowed upon the completion of two years of teaching; forty-five per cent forgiveness of the total amount borrowed upon the completion of three years of teaching; seventy per cent forgiveness of the total amount borrowed upon the completion of four years of teaching; and one hundred per cent forgiveness upon the completion of five years of teaching. If a loan recipient is teaching less than full-time in the shortage area or in such special education facility, such superintendent or authority shall certify to the Department of Higher Education that a full-time position was not available. Recipients who teach in a priority school district as designated by the state Department of Education pursuant to section 10-266p of the general statutes, revision of 1958, revised to 1991, shall have their loans forgiven as follows: Thirty per cent forgiveness of the total amount borrowed upon completion of one year of teaching; sixty per cent forgiveness of the total amount borrowed upon completion of two years of teaching; and one hundred per cent forgiveness upon the completion of three years of teaching. If a recipient has taught in a priority school district and in a nonpriority school district the Department of Higher Education shall formulate an appropriate forgiveness schedule.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection, students who receive loans for one academic year only shall have their loans forgiven as follows: Thirty per cent forgiveness of the total amount borrowed upon the completion of one year of teaching; sixty per cent forgiveness of the total amount borrowed upon the completion of two years of teaching; and one hundred per cent forgiveness of the total amount borrowed upon the completion of three years of teaching. Recipients who receive loans for one academic year only and who teach in a priority school district as designated by the state Department of Education pursuant to section 10-266p of the general statutes, revision of 1958, revised to 1991, shall have their loans forgiven as follows: Forty per cent forgiveness of the total amount borrowed upon the completion of one year of teaching; and one hundred per cent forgiveness upon the completion of two years of teaching. If a recipient has taught in a priority school district and in a nonpriority school district, the Department of Higher Education shall formulate an appropriate forgiveness schedule.
(3) The interest rate for loan awards made under this program shall be determined in accordance with subsection (t) of section 3-20.
(4) The Commissioner of Higher Education may grant loan deferments to a recipient when the recipient is teaching in a subject area determined to have a critical teacher shortage or when it is determined by the commissioner that loan repayment would present an unjust hardship to the recipient. Interest charges will not accrue to the recipient during deferment periods approved by the commissioner. The commissioner may forgive loans if the commissioner determines that such action is required due to the death or disability of the recipient or because the loan is uncollectible in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
(5) A recipient meeting the forgiveness or deferment provisions of this section must apply for loan forgiveness or deferment to the Commissioner of Higher Education. Requests for loan deferments must be submitted prior to the period for which a deferment is requested. An application for loan forgiveness must be received by the commissioner within one year of the last day of the period for which the recipient is applying for loan forgiveness. Forgiveness will not be granted for teaching services performed prior to or during the loan award period. Recipients who enter into the loan repayment period will be required to make a minimum monthly payment of fifty dollars unless exception is granted by the Department of Higher Education. A recipient shall have up to five years in which to repay loans granted pursuant to the provisions of this section, except that when it is determined by the commissioner that loan repayment would present an unjust hardship to the recipient, a recipient shall have up to seven years in which to repay such loans. Deferment periods shall not be included in the repayment period.
(6) The Commissioner of Higher Education may designate a staff member or employee to perform the duties imposed under subdivisions (4) and (5) of this subsection.
(P.A. 77-530, S. 4, 11; P.A. 81-157, S. 5, 14; P.A. 82-218, S. 37, 46; P.A. 83-556, S. 1, 5; P.A. 84-241, S. 2, 5; 84-376, S. 1, 3; P.A. 85-377, S. 4, 13; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 86-1, S. 40, 58; P.A. 87-416, S. 10, 24; P.A. 90-147, S. 14, 20; P.A. 92-262, S. 34, 42; P.A. 93-201, S. 16, 24.)
History: P.A. 81-157 transferred administration of grant program from state student financial assistance commission to board of higher education; P.A. 82-218 reorganized system of higher education, replacing board of higher education with board of governors, effective March 1, 1983; Sec. 10-116n transferred to Sec. 10a-163 in 1983; P.A. 83-556 entirely replaced former section concerning scholarships for graduate training of teachers in specific fields with a teacher incentive loan program for the training of undergraduate students and graduate students without prior teacher certification in teacher shortage areas; P.A. 84-241 added "of higher education" to board of governors' title; P.A. 84-376 amended Subsec. (b) changing date of determination from January to December first and clarifying that the board shall identify a maximum of five fields in which a "critical" teacher shortage exists, amended Subsec. (c) stipulating that "full-time" undergraduate and graduate students were eligible for the loans, deleted provisions of Subsec. (d) and substituted procedure for allocating loans between the public and private sectors, changed time at which rate of interest is fixed in Subsec. (f)(2) from time borrower begins repayment to the date the loan is awarded, deleted provisions in Subsec. (f)(4) re submission of applications for loan forgiveness and deferment within five years after borrower enters repayment period and substituted language requiring deferment requests to be submitted prior to the period for which a deferment is requested and within one year of the last day of the period for which a borrower is applying for loan forgiveness and repealed Subsec. (g) re revocation of a teaching certificate if the borrower fails to repay any loan and interest; P.A. 85-377 substituted commissioner of education for state board in Subsecs. (b) and (c); May Sp. Sess. P.A. 86-1 amended Subsec. (f)(1) by providing that a recipient have terminated at least half-time student status rather than have terminated student status in the program for which the loan was tendered and by providing a five-year forgiveness schedule for teaching in an area of critical teacher shortage and a three-year schedule for teaching in a priority district, added a new Subsec. (f)(2) to provide alternate schedules for students who receive loans for one academic year only, renumbered Subdivs. (2) to (4), inclusive, substituted the prevailing prime interest rate for the rate borne by bonds of the state, provided that the interest rate remain fixed for all subsequent awards, substituted "recipient" for "borrower" and made other technical changes; P.A. 87-416 provided that the interest rates on loans would be determined in accordance with Sec. 3-20(t); P.A. 90-147 in Subsec. (b) made the education commissioner's determination of fields of critical shortage permissive, in Subsec. (c) made eligibility for loans subject to available appropriations and in Subsec. (f) made the loan forgiveness provisions apply to students who render services in approved private special education facilities and provided a seven-year repayment period when there is a determination that repayment would present an unjust hardship; P.A. 92-262 amended Subsec. (f) to make a technical change; P.A. 93-201 amended Subsec. (f)(4) to add provision re uncollectible loans, effective July 1, 1993.
