MTI Eligibility Requirements

To qualify for the Minority Teachers of Illinois (MTI) Scholarship, an applicant must:

• be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen;
• be a resident of Illinois;
• be a minority student who is enrolled or accepted for enrollment on at least a half-time basis as an undergraduate or graduate student;
• be enrolled or accepted for enrollment at a qualified Illinois institution of higher education in a course of study, including alternative teacher certification, which upon completion will qualify the student to be certified by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) as a preschool, elementary or secondary school teacher;
• be a high school graduate or a recipient of a General Educational Development (GED) Certificate;
• maintain a cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale (or its equivalent) at the college or university level;
• not be in default on any student loan nor owe a refund or repayment on any state or federal grant;
• comply with federal Selective Service registration requirements;
• meet the satisfactory academic progress standards at the school;
• have not received 8 semesters or 12 quarters of the MTI Scholarship; and
• not be awarded an Illinois Special Education Teacher Tuition Waiver (SETTW) or Illinois Future Teacher Corps (IFTC) Scholarship for the same academic period for which the MTI Scholarship is requested.

The definitions for minority students are as follows:

• African American/Black -- a person having origins in any of the black racial groups in Africa;
• Asian American -- a person with origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, including Pakistan, and the Pacific Islands, including among others, Hawaii, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia;
• Hispanic American -- a person of Spanish or Portuguese culture with origins in Mexico, South or Central America, or the Caribbean Islands, regardless of race;
• Native American -- a person who is a member of a federally or state recognized Indian tribe, or whose parents or grandparents have such membership, including the native people of Alaska.

The award year for this scholarship does not include the summer term.

Monetary Award Program (MAP) funds may be applied only to any remaining tuition and fee charges after the MTI Scholarship is applied to the cost of attendance.