JB Pritzker, Governor, State of Illinois

Minority Teachers of Illinois (MTI) Scholarship Program

Program News

(last updated February 28, 2023)

2023-24 Application
2022-23 Program Funding
2022-23 What's New (Effective January 1, 2022)
2022-23 Payment
2022-23 Award Determination
2022-23 Certification
Enrollment Status Verification (submit 2021-2022 data by November 30, 2022)

2023-24

Application

The 2023-24 MTI Scholarship Program application is available online via the Program Applications & Status Checks area of the ISAC Student Portal.

For priority consideration, the 2023-24 MTI Scholarship application and 2023-24 FAFSA or (if applicable) Alternative Application must be received by March 31, 2023.

At this time, student data related to the 2023-24 MTI application is not appearing for colleges in the MTI system. This page will be updated when student data becomes available for colleges to view.

The Application Procedures for MTI section includes details about the application process, including sample acknowledgement notifications.

Refer to the MTI Scholarship Program page of the Students & Parents area for assistance with questions you receive from applicants regarding the MTI application process.

2022-23

Program Funding

The 2023 fiscal year (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023) appropriation for the Minority Teachers of Illinois (MTI) Scholarship is $4,200,000.

What's New (Effective January 1, 2022)

The following amendments, which are effective January 1, 2022 for the 2022-23 operational cycle, have been adopted for the MTI administrative rules.

Application Process

  • Added “qualified bilingual minority applicants” to those who may apply for the scholarship.
  • Applicants who are already licensed to teach must be enrolled or accepted for enrollment in a course of study leading to an additional teaching endorsement or a master’s degree in an academic field in which they are teaching or plan to teach.
  • Applicants who are not yet enrolled in an educator preparation program must have received one or more College and Career Pathway Endorsements and commit to enrolling in a course of study leading to teacher licensure, including alternative teacher licensure.
  • In addition to the MTI application, the corresponding year’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) or Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid (if applicable) must be submitted by the March 31 preceding the academic year for which a scholarship is being requested (for example, the priority application consideration date for the 2022-23 academic year was March 31, 2022).

Awarding

  • When appropriated funds for this program are insufficient to provide scholarships for all qualified applicants during any fiscal year, available funds will be awarded to qualified students who submit complete timely applications (i.e., the complete MTI Scholarship application and FAFSA or Alternative Application are submitted no later than March 31) based on the following priority order:
  1. Scholarships will first be awarded to renewal applicants who continue to meet all of the program’s eligibility requirements (including minority student status). An applicant is considered a renewal applicant if during the previous academic year they received funds from the program for which they are currently applying.
  2. If funds remain after all qualified renewal applicants have been awarded, then at least 35 percent of appropriated funds will be reserved for male qualified applicants. If enough applications are not received on or before January 1 of each fiscal year to award 35 percent of available funds to male qualified minority applicants, then a portion of the reserved funds will be awarded to female qualified minority applicants.
  3. When at least $2,850,000, but less than $4,200,000 is appropriated for this program in a given fiscal year, then – to the extent allowed by the amount of funding that remains – at least ten percent of the appropriated funds will be reserved for qualified bilingual minority applicants, with priority given to those applicants who are enrolled in an educator preparation program with a concentration in bilingual, bicultural education.
  4. When at least $4,200,000 is appropriated for this program in a given fiscal year, (as is the case in fiscal year 2023), then – to the extent allowed by the amount of funding that remains – at least 30 percent of the appropriated funds will be reserved for qualified bilingual minority applicants, with priority given to those applicants who are enrolled in an educator preparation program with a concentration in bilingual, bicultural education.
  5. If sufficient funding remains after awarding has been completed for applicants included in priority categories 1-4 (above), then awards may be made to other qualified applicants.
  6. If the appropriated funding for this program in any given year is insufficient to award all qualified applicants within any of the priority categories 1-5 (above), then awards within that category will be prioritized as follows:
    1. to students that demonstrate the most financial need;
    2. to students with the earliest date of received complete applications (i.e., in date-received order); and
    3. to qualified applicants enrolled at or above the junior level.
  • Because more than $2,850,000 has been appropriated for this program in fiscal year 2023, the maximum annual award amount has increased to $7,500 for 2022-23 and all subsequent years.

Program Requirements

  • If a scholarship is awarded based on an applicant's qualified bilingual minority status, the teaching commitment may be completed in a transitional bilingual education program or in a school in which at least 20 English learner students in the same language classification are enrolled.

Participating Institution Requirements

  • Each institution that participates in the MTI Scholarship Program must host an annual information session about the program for teacher candidates of color and – in an effort to facilitate on-time completion of each student’s educator preparation program – require that all program recipients enrolled at the institution meet with an academic advisor at least once per academic year.

Program Awareness

  • If there are three consecutive years in which the following two situations occur, then up to three percent of funds appropriated for the MTI Scholarship Program will be allocated to increase awareness of the program and for the recruitment of Black male applicants:
    • less than 90 percent of each fiscal year’s MTI Scholarship appropriation is expended, and
    • an insufficient number of applications are received by January 1 of each year from the groups identified for reserved funds (i.e., qualified male applicants and qualified bilingual minority applicants).

Payment

Important dates and reminders for 2022-23 MTI Scholarship payment processing:

  • As part of our ongoing efforts to best leverage appropriated funds to award as many eligible students as possible, priority payment request deadline dates are established for each term.
    • Although the first- and second-term payment request deadline dates for this program have passed, ISAC is continuing to accept and pay claims for these terms.
      • The second-term payment request deadline date was February 24, 2023.
      • The first-term payment request deadline date was December 30, 2022.
    • The timely submission of claims and cancellations/adjustments allows ISAC staff to monitor remaining funds and award other students, as applicable.

As announced in a January 9 e-Message, 2022-23 MTI first- and second-term payment requests can be completed online and submitted electronically to ISAC via the MTI system.

Submitting payment requests is a two-step process, which involves generating the request (either individually or in a batch) and then submitting the request.

Payment results display on the MTI Student Detail: Payment screen and on the Payment Results/Exception report the day after payment requests are processed. After submitting claims, colleges are encouraged to always review the Payment Results/Exceptions report. Retain a copy of the report for each payment request submitted, so that the invoice number on the report can be matched with voucher data and the funds received from the State Comptroller’s Office.

Effective December 2022, a new report for tracking payment vouchers and warrants is available via the MTI system. The new report (which may be accessed via the Reports section, and is identified by the same red PDF icon that appears with the “Payment Results/Exceptions” report) provides payment voucher and warrant information, dependent upon where the payment is in the process.

  • Once ISAC processes a payment request and sends it to the State Comptroller, the report will appear with the following title format: (Program) Voucher INV mm-dd-yyyy SCH xxx.
    • At this time, the “WARRANT NO.” and “WARRANT DATE” fields on the report will be blank.
  • The last page of the report provides invoice information, including the amount due to the school and the invoice number.
    • This same invoice number also will be referenced on the voucher from the State Comptroller, authorizing payment.
  • The voucher number will be referenced on the check (payment).
  • The “WARRANT NO.” and “WARRANT DATE” fields will populate on the report after the State Comptroller has authorized payment for the voucher.
    • Once this happens, the title format will be: (Program) Warrant INV mm-dd-yyyy SCH xxx.

Because colleges may now track payment vouchers and warrants via the MTI system, ISAC no longer sends e-mails with MTI voucher data to financial aid directors.

The disbursement of funds is processed by the State Comptroller's Office. Refer to the State Comptroller's Website page for information on how to track payment.

For more information, refer to the following locations on ISAC's website:

MTI Payment
MTI Electronic Processing
MTI User Guide

Award Determination

As announced in an August 31 e-Message, awarding for the 2022-23 MTI Scholarship Program has taken place for all timely new and renewal applicants who have been certified as eligible. Award notifications will be mailed to all eligible applicants by ISAC, and colleges may view award results on the "Student List Eligibility: View screen" in the MTI system.

Refer to the MTI Award Determination area for more information about the award process, award amount and notifications. Details about the MTI system, including access to the MTI User Guide, are available at the MTI Electronic Processing page.

Certification

A May 11 e-Message announces that colleges may certify eligibility for the 2022-23 Minority Teachers of Illinois (MTI) Scholarship Program via the MTI system. The MTI system is available to enter certification data each Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. (CT).

A Certification record is created in the MTI system when an MTI application is complete. All Certifications available in the MTI system must be completed regardless of whether the school certifies a student as eligible or ineligible. The only way an applicant will receive a notification letter is if the Certification is submitted via the MTI system. Be sure to continue completing and submitting Certifications throughout the year, in order to ensure that students will be included in all rounds of awarding that take place.

An overview of the online certification process, including details regarding what’s new for the 2022-23 academic year, is available on the Certification Procedures for MTI page. Refer to the MTI User Guide for instructions to enter and submit Certifications to ISAC.

Enrollment Status Verification

Verification of award recipients' current enrollment status data is to be completed by the college and returned to ISAC as soon as possible, and all 2021-2022 data must be submitted on or before Wednesday, November 30, 2022. Further details are provided in an October 18 e-Message.

Each fall, colleges are required to verify the enrollment statuses for recipients in the programs with teaching requirements. Verification of enrollment status is required for all recipients who, according to our records, previously received funds from the following ISAC-administered teacher education programs and may have been enrolled at your institution during the prior academic year.

ISAC monitors recipients’ fulfillment of the program requirements because, if recipients fail to meet the applicable requirements, their awards convert to loans that must be repaid. Knowing recipients’ enrollment status, as reported by the colleges, allows ISAC to communicate with recipients who have graduated (or otherwise stopped attending college) regarding the steps they need to take in order to fulfill their teaching requirements. The sooner colleges submit enrollment verification data to ISAC, the sooner ISAC can communicate with impacted award recipients.

Refer to the Enrollment Status Verification page and the Enrollment Status Verification for Teacher Programs User Guide for step-by-step instructions on completing and submitting enrollment status verification data to ISAC. Details about the teaching requirement, extensions, deferments and repayment are provided in the Students & Parents – After College area of this website, and may be accessed via the "Program Requirements" link that appears in the right-margin menu of this page.