Tenell Felder
June 03, 2024
Each year, the EOC reviews the South Carolina Teacher Loan Program (TLP) to help assess the effectiveness of teacher recruitment in the state. The TLP offers qualified state residents financial incentives to enter the education profession through providing forgivable loans.
The report uncovered the following insights into SC’s teacher pipeline:
- Sources of teacher hires:
Though overall they are a smaller percentage of teacher hires, alternative certification programs and international teacher hires are the only sources that have increased within the past year. - CERRA Supply and Demand Survey Reports 2015-2023 - African Americans in the SC teaching force:
The Teacher Loan Advisory Committee set a goal that TLP African American applicants and recipients should mirror the percentage of African Americans in the South Carolina teaching force. The annual report found this goal fell short as only 8.9% of Type 1 and Type 2 loan recipients were African American, which is lower than the 15.3% 2021-22 SC Teacher Workforce figure. - Males in the SC teaching force:
The Teacher Loan Advisory Committee set a goal that the percentage of TLP male applicants and recipients should mirror the percentage of males in the South Carolina teaching force. The annual report found this goal just fell short as 19.2% of TLP applications were from males, which is slightly less than the SC-TEACH Workforce figure for SC (19.6%). The male application representation falls below the 23% of males in the 2020-21 national educator workforce. - Research institutions enrollment numbers:
The University of South Carolina has seen a 28% decrease from 2014 to 2023 in the number of enrollments in its bachelor level education program while Clemson University has seen a 57% increase; however, it should also be noted that in 2014, USC had more than double the bachelor level education enrollments than Clemson University. - Teacher Cadets continue to provide a significant source of TLP recipients:
51% of TLP loan recipients were Teacher Cadets.
The EOC recommends that a cohesive statewide and district level teacher recruitment strategy be developed for each component of the teacher pipeline.
For more information on the TLP, visit the South Carolina Student Loan’s teacher loans website.