Terms & Conditions
The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program
The Noyce Scholarship Track provides funds to institutions of higher education to support scholarships, stipends, and academic programs for undergraduate STEM majors and post-baccalaureate students holding STEM degrees who earn a teaching credential and commit to teaching in high-need K-12 school districts. The NSF Teaching Fellowship/Master Teaching Fellowship Track supports STEM professionals who enroll as NSF Teaching Fellows in master’s degree programs leading to teacher certification by providing academic courses, professional development, and salary supplements while they are fulfilling a four-year teaching commitment in a high need school district. This track also supports the development of NSF Master Teaching Fellows by providing professional development and salary supplements for exemplary mathematics and science teachers to become Master Teachers in high need school districts.
The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program responds to the critical need for K-12 teachers of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by encouraging talented STEM students and professionals to pursue teaching careers in elementary and secondary schools.
The program provides funding to institutions of higher education to provide scholarships, stipends, and programmatic support to recruit and prepare STEM majors and professionals to become K-12 teachers. Scholarship and stipend recipients are required to complete two years of teaching in a high-need school district for each year of support. The program seeks to increase the number of K-12 teachers with strong STEM content knowledge who teach in high-need school districts.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is working with the NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program to identify and disseminate information about effective practices and strategies for attracting, selecting, and preparing new K-12 STEM teachers and retaining them in the STEM teacher workforce.
The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program at California State University Northridge seeks to encourage talented science and mathematics majors and professionals to become mathematics and science teachers for grades 6-12. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, scholarships of $10,000 per year are given to students who are science and mathematics majors to obtain a teaching certification through the Michael D. Eisner College of Education at CSUN. Noyce Scholars commit to teaching at a high-need school district for two years within six years of their science teacher certification.
Who is eligible to become a Noyce Scholar?
The Noyce Scholarship Program is available for CSUN undergraduates or credential students who will obtain teaching certification in science or mathematics. Students must be a science or mathematics major (undergraduates) or have obtained a Bachelor degree in science or math (graduates).
What financial benefits do Noyce Scholars receive?
Noyce Scholars receive up to $15,000 per year ($7500 each semester). Students who are enrolled in less than 7 units will have their stipend reduced.
Undergraduate students may receive up to two years funding during their junior and senior years for a total of $30,000. Graduate students may receive one year's funding.
How does one obtain a teaching certification?
Students majoring in science and math can obtain a teaching certification through the CSUN credential program in science education or the CSUN credential program in math education. This can be completed in as little as one year from the ACT program.
What commitments do Noyce Scholars have?
Noyce scholarship recipients must teach for two years in a school within a high-need school district within six years of graduating with a certification in science or math teaching. Teaching in any school within a high-need school district meets this qualification, whether or not the individual school meets the high-need criteria. Almost all of the public schools in the San Fernando Valley are considered high-need.
Terms and Conditions for Scholarship Recipients
If a Noyce Scholar recipient does not meet this teaching requirement, the scholarship must be repaid in part or in full, in proportion to the fulfillment of the teaching commitment met, as described below in the Terms and Conditions. The repayment requirement may be waived under hardship conditions.
Definition of High-Need School District
For the purposes of the agreement between the Noyce Scholar applicant and CSUN a "high-need local education agency" is a public school district that meets one of the following definitions:
It has at least one school in which 50 percent or more of the enrolled students are eligible for participation in the free and reduced lunch program established by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C.1751 et seq.),
It has at least one school in which: (i) more than 34 percent of the academic classroom teachers at the secondary level (across all academic subjects) do not have an undergraduate degree with a major or minor in, or graduate degree in, the academic field in which they teach the largest percentage of their classes; or (ii) more than 34 percent of the teachers in two academic departments do not have an undergraduate degree with a major or minor in, or a graduate degree in the academic field in which they teach the largest percentage of their classes.
It has at least one school whose teacher attrition rate has been 15 percent or more over the last three school years.
Repayment for Failure to Meet Service Obligation
The recipient agrees to repay to CSUN the amount of the scholarship if he or she does not--
Meet the service obligation or reporting requirements identified above in "Recipient's Retention of Scholarship Assistance for Meeting the Service Obligation;" or
Receive a waiver or suspension of this obligation as explained below in "Discharge of a Required Payment."
If the scholarship recipient does not fulfill his or her service obligation within six (6) years by teaching for two years in a high-need local educational agency for each year he or she received scholarship support, the recipient becomes obligated to fully repay the scholarship within six (6) years after his or her date of graduation from CSUN. If the scholarship recipient withdraws from CSUN prior to graduation, the recipient becomes obligated to repay the scholarship six (6) months after his or her withdrawal from CSUN If upon graduation from CSUN the scholarship recipient teaches in a high-need local educational agency for a period that is less than the period of his or her service obligation, the recipient becomes responsible for repayment of the percentage of the period for which the service obligation was not fulfilled.
Example: An individual receives a scholarship in the total amount of $15,000 to attend CSUN The individual graduates from CSUN and works in a high-need local educational agency for one full school year. The individual then moves and takes a teaching position in a school district that is not high-need. Then six (6) years after graduation, the individual has fulfilled one-half of his or her service obligation and so must immediately repay one-half of the scholarship.
Stay in Contact. Until the scholarship recipient either satisfies the service obligation or repays the scholarship, the recipient agrees to provide CSUN a current home address and telephone number and a current work address and telephone number, as well as other needed identifying information. In addition, the recipient understands that CSUN and the high-need LEA are or will be using the recipient's social security number so that CSUN can, if necessary, secure payment of these amounts from the recipient if he or she fails to meet the service obligation.
Discharge of a Required Repayment
CSUN will waive or suspend an obligation to repay the scholarship of a scholarship recipient who has died or who demonstrates to CSUN's satisfaction that, because of permanent physical or mental disability or some other extraordinary circumstance, he or she is not employable as a teacher. Upon receipt of acceptable documentation and approval of the discharge request, CSUN returns to the scholarship recipient, or for a discharge of death, the recipient's estate, those payments received after the date the eligibility requirements for the discharge were met and prior to the date the discharge was approved. CSUN also returns any payments received after the date the discharge was approved.
Further questions? Contact us at noyce@csun.edu