Associate Degree

You may be eligible for assistance with college credits if you are a:

• Type B Family Child Care Provider, Type A Family Child Care Provider, or teacher, assistant teacher, director, or owner employed in a licensed early care and learning program.;
• Work at least 30 hours per week with children**;
• Agree to commit to staying at the program for a minimum of one year after completing scholarship.
• Professionals must be at their sponsoring center for 90 days before they can apply.
• Do not already possess a degree (including unrelated degrees)

There are three partners in this scholarship process: T.E.A.C.H. OHIO (organization offering the scholarships, the scholar (professional taking classes), and the sponsor (child care program where scholar is employed). Each partner provides benefits to each other.

T.E.A.C.H. provides the following benefits to sponsors and scholars:

• Pays for 90% of tuition and fees*;
• Pays for 80% of book cost;
• $300 per year for travel or internet;
• Reimbursement of $12 per hour to the sponsor, for providing up 6 hours per week of paid release time;
• $300 bonus every year at least 9 credits are successfully completed.

The sponsor** provides the following benefits to the scholar (some scholarship models vary):

• 5% of tuition*;
• Provides up to 6 hours per week of release time to the scholar paid at his/her regular wage;
• $300 bonus or 2% raise every year at least 9 credits are successfully completed*.

The Scholar provides the following benefits to the sponsor:

• 5% of tuition*;
• Commitment to work for at least 1 additional year at the sponsoring program following the end of the scholarship

Additional benefits include:

• Higher quality teaching in the child care classroom. Scholars benefit every day they are in college classes and bring that knowledge back with them to the classroom.
• Retention of scholars averages 94%. Typical retention for child care workers is 60-70%. This means the costs of replacing employees is lower for sponsors participating with T.E.A.C.H.

Higher retention also means improved continuity of care, the quality of the bond between teacher and child is critical to quality outcomes for children, and early brain development.

* Some scholarships vary.
** Type B professionals do not have a Sponsor

T.E.A.C.H. OHIO collaborates with colleges and universities located throughout Ohio offering an Associate of Science (AAS) Degree in early childhood education. These programs support T.E.A.C.H. OHIO scholars and have been approved by the Ohio Department of Education as teacher training programs for the Pre-Kindergarten Associate Teacher Certificate. Several of the community colleges listed below offer credit-based Child Development Associate Credential coursework.

T.E.A.C.H. OHIO currently partners with three universities offering a Bachelor Degree in early childhood education.

For more information on our partnering colleges and universities and their early childhood education programs as well as the early child education programs of other colleges and universities, consult the College Profiles on OCCRRA’s website at www.occrra.org/wd.

Associate Degree

• Central Ohio Technical College
• Cincinnati State Technical & Community College
• Clark State Community College
• Columbus State Community College
• Cuyahoga Community College
• Eastern Gateway Community College
• Edison Community College
• Kent State University: Salem
• Kent State University: Tuscarawas
• Lakeland Community College
• Lorain County Community College
• Miami University – Online Learning
• Northwest State Community College
• Ohio University: Chillicothe
• Ohio University: Lancaster
• Ohio University: Southern
• Owens Community College
• Rhodes State College
• Rio Grande Community College
• Sinclair Community College
• Southern State Community College
• Stark State College
• University of Cincinnati – Online Learning

CDA Credential College Credit Coursework

• Cincinnati State Technical & Community College – through Workforce Development
• Cuyahoga Community College
• Eastern Gateway Community College
• Edison Community College
• Rhodes State College
• University of Cincinnati – Online Learning

Please see the Ohio Department of Higher Education website www.ohiohighered.org/campuses for a listing of all schools in Ohio and information about each campus with links to each institution’s website.

After your application is submitted to T.E.A.C.H. OHIO, we will review it for completeness. If we need more information we will contact you. Complete applications will then be reviewed for approval.

Denied Applications

If the application is denied we will contact you to let you know the reason your application could not be approved and email you a link to our Application Survey. We would appreciate you completing the voluntary survey so that we may learn if we are serving you well or need to improve. If you submitted money with your CDA Assessment Fee Application it will be returned to you and your Sponsor.

Accepted Applications

If the application is accepted we will email you a link to Handbooks for you, and your sponsor, that describe in detail how the scholarships work. These handbooks must be read by you and your sponsoring program director. The last page (form) of the handbook must be signed by you and your sponsoring program director and returned to us. The CDA Assessment Fee Scholarship has one handbook and applicants and sponsors must sign the same form page after each has read the handbook. Other scholarships have separate handbooks for applicants (participants) and sponsors, each with form pages that must be signed respectively by applicants and sponsors.

We will also send you a link to an “Application Survey”. We would appreciate you completing the voluntary survey so that we may learn if we are serving you well or need to improve.

Does the college need a “brick and mortar” campus in Ohio? Yes, T.E.A.C.H. OHIO only works with colleges and universities located in Ohio. Completely online programs need to be affiliated with a campus within Ohio.

What degree must be offered? T.E.A.C.H. OHIO only supports the Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree related to Child Development or Early Childhood Education. This degree must lead to Pre-K licensure. The Ohio Pre-K teaching license is for teaching children age 0 to 5. This is NOT the age 3 to grade 3 teaching license. We do not support the Associate of Arts (AA) degree that leads to the age 3 to grade 3 license. The Ohio Board of Regents determines which degrees lead to the Pre-K license. Please contact them for more information about what requirements the degree at your college must meet to lead to the Pre-K license.

Why do we only support the AAS degree? We feel the AAS degree provides the most Early Childhood Education content. It provides content the teachers can use the very next day in their classrooms. The AAS is a “terminal” degree, meaning it is not solely intended as a preparatory degree leading to Bachelor of Arts degree. AA degrees do not include as much Early Childhood content, since they are intended to prepare students to go on for their Bachelor of Arts degree. We want our student to have as much Early Childhood content as possible, as soon as they are ready for it and not to have to wait until (and if) they go on for a Bachelor of Arts degree. Even with an AAS degree, students may choose (on their own, T.E.A.C.H. OHIO cannot pay for it) to go on for a Bachelor of Science degree in Child Development. Many schools offer this degree, and it may (depending on the college) articulate fully with the AAS degree.

What information can colleges and T.E.A.C.H. OHIO share about scholars? All T.E.A.C.H. OHIO applicants sign a release authorizing an exchange of information between their selected college and T.E.A.C.H OHIO as part of the scholarship application process. T.E.A.C.H. OHIO scholarship counselors can request information related to financial aid and grades. The authorization forms are updated every year when scholars renew their contracts with T.E.A.C.H. OHIO.

How does payment from T.E.A.C.H. OHIO work? A MOU (memorandum of understanding) is signed by the college and T.E.A.C.H. OHIO that details this billing arrangement. A list of approved scholars (and in most cases classes) will be communicated to the college (usually the billing office) each term. The college will then bill T.E.A.C.H. OHIO for the tuition of the approved scholars. T.E.A.C.H. OHIO will only pay for the scholars (and classes) originally cited in the list sent to the college. T.E.A.C.H. OHIO is typically referred to as a third party vendor. T.E.A.C.H. OHIO funding is the last applied to a student’s account, before loans. PELL funds must be applied to a student’s tuition, before T.E.A.C.H. OHIO funding. Loans are only applied to the student’s account for classes that T.E.A.C.H. OHIO will not pay for, or too cover fees that T.E.A.C.H. OHIO will not pay for, such as late fees or parking (if the student does not have sufficient PELL to cover these costs).

For what is a sponsor responsible? One of the most important principles of our scholarships is partnership: Partnership between the sponsor (where the scholar is employed), scholar, and T.E.A.C.H. OHIO. All three partners share in the cost, benefits, and responsibilities that are intrinsic to the scholarship. Sponsors must sign a three-way contact each year their scholars are on scholarship with T.E.A.C.H. OHIO. The contact lists all of the obligations of the sponsor, as well as those of the scholar and T.E.A.C.H. OHIO. In general (specific contracts may vary, so please contact T.E.A.C.H. OHIO if you have questions) the sponsor must provide paid release time and award a raiseor bonus each year. Also, sponsors are required to pay a percentage of tuition.

How does an employee or sponsor break a contract? The contract is broken when an employee quits a program while on contract, or during their commitment period (6 months or 1 year after the end of a contract). A sponsoring program can break a contract by failing to provide paid release time, or not paying a raise or bonus after an employee has successfully completed a contract. If the sponsor breaks a contract, the scholar does not have to fulfill their commitment period (i.e. the employee may quit the program without consequence from T.E.A.C.H. OHIO).

What if an employee breaks the contract? If they break the contract, you may prevent them from ever receiving another T.E.A.C.H. OHIO scholarship again in the future. This is a strong deterrent if the employee does not have their degree yet and desires to stay in the child care field. You may be able reclaim from your employee from their last paycheck any expenses you contributed toward their contract, should they break the contact. We recommend you contact a lawyer before doing so; T.E.A.C.H. OHIO cannot give legal advice.

What if my program can not commit to paying a raise or bonus each year of the scholarship? Many sponsors may be restricted by tight budgets, low enrollment, existing employee contract requirements, or other considerations. T.E.A.C.H. OHIO tries to design scholarship models that are flexible. For example, our CDA Assessment Fee scholarship allows a sponsor to pay $100 toward the CDA assessment fee, in lieu of paying a $100 bonus or 1% raise to the scholar when they attain their CDA. Please contact T.E.A.C.H. OHIO if the Raise or Bonus is preventing you from joining our scholarship program and we may be able to find an alternative for you.

Won’t my employee leave if they get a CDA or AAS degree? This can be a concern of sponsors that work with us. There are many factors to consider when evaluating the risk vs. reward of helping your current employees attain better professional credentials. First of all, T.E.A.C.H. OHIO participation requires that your employee stay working at your program, while they are on contract with us. Attaining an AAS degree has taken some of our scholars up to 7 years. Additionally, after they get their AAS, our commitment period requires them to stay at your program for an additional year. So, by participating, you may have them committed to your program for up to 8 years. Wouldn’t you like that kind of commitment from all of your employees? How many at your program leave after a year or less right now? Even if they leave your program after that 8th year, you still have had a highly trained and dedicated employee at your program for the entirety of their education and scholarship commitment period. You have also built up years of good will and loyalty by supporting your employee with education, compensation (yearly raises or bonuses), and release time. CDA’s can be attained in shorter time period. However, T.E.A.C.H. OHIO requires a commitment period after the contract ends. So, if you sponsored them for their CDA in-service hours for college credit, they must remain at your program for an additional year. In most cases, they will be at your program for at least 2 years if they complete their in-service hours with you sponsoring them. And, a CDA is typically a stepping stone to the AAS degree. If the scholar violates the T.E.A.C.H. OHIO contract and leaves your program, you can prevent them from getting any more assistance from T.E.A.C.H. OHIO (if they want to go on for their AAS).

What if my program cannot afford to give paid release time? T.E.A.C.H. OHIO will reimburse the sponsor $8.00 per hour for the paid release time they provide. If this is not enough to cover the full wage of the employee receiving the release time, it may cover the wage of the substitute used in their classroom. As long as the reimbursement covers the wage of the scholar on release time, or the substitute teacher, the sponsor is not losing money. Please contact T.E.A.C.H. OHIO if this concept is not clear to you. We may also be able to suggest some creative ways to grant paid release time that avoid the need to grant additional time off, for example if you provide paid lunches, this can be considered paid release time if the scholar is allowed to study during lunch. Please contact us for more ideas. In some cases the substitute and scholar will both make more than $8.00 per hour. This will be a cost the sponsoring program will have to pay. T.E.A.C.H. OHIO has found that scholars receiving paid release time are able to take 1.5 more credits per term, and raise their GPA by 0.5. Granting paid release time also builds trust and loyalty with your employee. Hopefully the benefits of providing paid release time will outweigh the costs for you. The only scholarships where paid release time is not required are for Directors, who do not spend time in the classroom. The paid release time requirement can be reduced, or waived if your program is a part-time program, with children in care less than 12 hours per day. Reductions and waivers are handled on a case-by-case basis.

What is release time?

Release time is paid time off that is given to Associate Degree scholar/teachers. The teacher may use the time to attend class, study, or attend to personal matters that cannot be done because of work or class. The child care program should pay the teacher for release time taken at the teacher’s normal rate of pay. The program will be reimbursed for release time, at a rate of $12.00 per hour.

How much release time does each scholar receive?

Each week the scholar can get one hour of release time for each credit hour taken, up to a maximum of 6 hours. For example, if the scholar is taking 3 credit hours, she can get up to 3 hours of release time each week. If the scholar is taking 9 credit hours, he/she can receive up to 6 hours release time (the maximum) each week.

How will my child care program get reimbursed for release time?

The program receives reimbursement to help cover costs of substitutes or aides who may be needed when the scholar is given release time. Each program receives Form C, the Release Time Reimbursement Claim Form. Form C is used by the scholar and the program to track release time given, and must be signed by both the scholar and the program director, and submitted to OCCRRA. Once received and reviewed, OCCRRA sends the program a check. Additional forms can be printed from the T.E.A.C.H. OHIO website resources page: http://teach.occrra.org/index.php?pid=7

Do I have to use paid release time?

Yes, release time is a requirement of the scholarship. Failure to allow the scholar paid release time may result in the scholar losing their scholarship.

What if the scholar’s classes are outside of their scheduled work time or online?

The scholar should still be permitted paid release time

What if the program is not able to give the complete amount of authorized release time required by the scholarship contract?

Release time arrangements are to be mutually agreed upon by the scholar and the program director. Release time arrangements are meant to be flexible to meet both the scholar and the program’s needs, and may include such options as allowing the teacher to come in late or leave early during the week, pay them for lunch break (where they are not responsible for a group of children during this time), pay them for holidays that they would not normally be paid, or add time to personal or vacation leave taken while in school (cannot be saved up to be used after the term is over).

T.E.A.C.H. OHIO is funded by Federal, State and Local funds. Our current funders include:

• The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). In all 88 Ohio counties they fund Associate Degree scholarships for Step Up to Quality star rated programs, CDA college Credit scholarships, and CDA Assessment Fee scholarships.
• Starting Point (Cuyahoga County). In Cuyahoga County they fund Bachelor and Associate degree scholarships for Type B professionals and programs not yet part of Step Up To Quality.
• The United Way of Central Ohio. In Franklin County they fund Associate Degree scholarships for programs not yet part of Step Up To Quality.
• The United Way of Greater Cincinnati. In Hamilton County they fund Associate Degree scholarships for programs working toward Step Up To Quality rating, and Bachelor scholarships at Step Up To Quality rated programs.

What do Funders pay for? Funders pay for 90% of tuition costs, 80% of book costs, $300 per contract for travel/internet stipend, $300 per contract for a bonus, and $12 per hour for release time reimbursement. Funders also pay the administrative costs for OCCRRA to provide the T.E.A.C.H. OHIO program and administer each contract. Funding a contact can cost between $2,000 and $6,000 per year and depends on many variables including:

• tuition cost at the college the scholar is attending,
• whether the scholar receives a PELL grant (which reduces tuition and book costs for the funder)
• cost of books
• whether or not a bonus is earned
• how much release time is used

Who can become a funder? Anyone! T.E.A.C.H. OHIO relies on local funders to supplement the Federal and State dollars we receive. Does your organization want to support Early Childhood Professionals, and Child Care program quality? Fund T.E.A.C.H. OHIO scholarships! Contact us to find out how: teach@occrra.org

T.E.A.C.H. OHIO is funded by Federal, State and Local funds. Our current funders include:

• The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). In all 88 Ohio counties they fund Associate Degree scholarships for Step Up to Quality star rated programs, CDA college Credit scholarships, and CDA Assessment Fee scholarships.
• Starting Point (Cuyahoga County). In Cuyahoga County they fund Bachelor and Associate degree scholarships for Type B professionals and programs not yet part of Step Up To Quality.
• The United Way of Central Ohio. In Franklin County they fund Associate Degree scholarships for programs not yet part of Step Up To Quality.
• The United Way of Greater Cincinnati. In Hamilton County they fund Associate Degree scholarships for programs working toward Step Up To Quality rating, and Bachelor scholarships at Step Up To Quality rated programs.

What do Funders pay for? Funders pay for 80% of tuition costs, 80% of book costs, $180 per contract for travel/internet stipend, $300 per contract for a bonus, and $8 per hour for release time reimbursement. Funders also pay the administrative costs for OCCRRA to provide the T.E.A.C.H. OHIO program and administer each contract. Funding a contact can cost between $2,000 and $6,000 per year and depends on many variables including:

• tuition cost at the college the scholar is attending,
• whether the scholar receives a PELL grant (which reduces tuition and book costs for the
• funder)
• cost of books
• whether or not a bonus is earned
• how much release time is used

Who can become a funder? Anyone! T.E.A.C.H. OHIO relies on local funders to supplement the Federal and State dollars we receive. Does your organization want to support Early Childhood Professionals, and Child Care program quality? Fund T.E.A.C.H. scholarships! Contact us to find out how: teach@occrra.org

Should I apply for Financial Aid before applying to T.E.A.C.H. OHIO?

Yes, you must apply for financial aid before applying to T.E.A.C.H. OHIO It can be applied for at www.fafsa.ed.gov You never have to pay for a FAFSA to be processed! We need a copy of the FAFSA on the web submission confirmation page (which must include your name) to prove that you have applied.

Do I have to be awarded a PELL grant to be eligible for T.E.A.C.H. OHIO?

No. You do not have to awarded PELL, you only need to apply to be eligible. However, you are required to accept PELL grant awards when they are awarded to you. PELL grants are not loans, and never need to be paid back. PELL grant awards reduce the amount of tuition that you, your sponsor, and T.E.A.C.H. OHIO must pay. Also, when you are denied a PELL grant, we require you to appeal the decision if it was based on exceeding a credit hour limit at your college. Contact your counselor and they will explain the situations where an appeal is required.

If you are awarded student loans, we discourage you from taking them. Keep in mind that we cannot help pay back your student loans when they come due. Before the end of your first term on contract with T.E.A.C.H. OHIO, you need to send us a copy of the award from your college.

Receiving PELL funding benefits you, your Sponsor and T.E.A.C.H. OHIO by reducing the amount of Tuition we all must pay.

What Fiscal Year do I need to apply for Financial Aid for?

There are typically more than one year on the FAFSA site you could choose to apply for. If you want to start school in the Summer or Fall term (see list below) you want to apply for the latest year available.

If I have been denied Financial Aid in the past, do I still have to apply now?

Yes, your financial situation may have changed, and you may now be eligible. We will accept documentation of a disqualifying factor such as a drug conviction.