Despite budget cuts, Teach for America grows

In the wake of recent AmeriCorps budget cuts — the federally-funded institution that helps support many service organizations — concerns about Teach for America's financial welfare have proven to be exaggerated.

In fact, TFA, which sends recent college graduates to teach in under-resourced schools, is financially healthy and preparing to launch its most rigorous recruiting campaign ever, said Christina An, its recruitment director at the University.

Rumors that TFA would face major setbacks began to circulate after Congress cut $100 million from the AmeriCorps budget, eliminating federal funding for a number of AmeriCorps programs.

Because of the cut, TFA — which was formerly an AmeriCorps program — will no longer receive annual AmeriCorps "education awards" of $4,725 to pass on to corps members. The awards were used to "pay for past or future education and teacher training," said Monique Jaramillo, deputy director of communications for TFA.

While the loss of the education awards was disappointing, they accounted for only about five percent of the TFA budget and the organization has worked with private backers to provide its 3,200 members with grants equivalent to what AmeriCorps would have given, An said.

"We cannot guarantee that future corps members will receive the money they would have received through AmeriCorps," Jaramillo said. "Right now it's a year-by-year thing. We are working with people on both sides, from private backers to the Bush administration, on this issue."

TFA has also stepped up financial aid to help corps members make the transition from student to teacher and to cover the cost of teacher certification in different states, Jaramillo said.

In addition, TFA will allow corps members to defer payment on qualified student loans and on the interest during their two years in the corps. These services were formerly provided by AmeriCorps, Jaramillo said.

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Because TFA corps members are paid a starting teacher's salary, they are less dependent upon education awards than members of other AmeriCorps programs who work as volunteers.

"[As TFA corps members] our concern is less that we ourselves are losing money but that the cuts are so devastating to [AmeriCorps]," said Dana Guyer '02, a TFA corps member who teaches third grade in Leland, Mississippi. "We want to encourage Americans to participate in service programs and the cuts may be seen by many as minimizing the importance of what we in AmeriCorps do."

As what used to be one of the largest and most prominent AmeriCorps programs, TFA has taken the lead in fighting the cuts. Members recently participated in offering 100 hours of testimony in Washington in support of a $100 million emergency funding bill.

Though TFA has received wide support, there are no guarantees AmeriCorps will gain additional federal funding.

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TFA, founded by Wendy Kopp '89 and inspired by her senior thesis, has experienced a growth spurt in the last three years, expanding from 1000 corps members in 13 sites to 3200 corps members in 20 sites. The organization's budget has also expanded from $10 million to $30 million, according to a recent press release.

Recruitment at the University has grown with the program, and An said she sees no sign of it slowing down.

Last year, TFA received 58 applications from University students and accepted 21 — creating an acceptance rate of 37 percent, far above the national acceptance rate of about 12.5 percent, An said. Fourteen of the accepted students matriculated into the program.

This year, TFA hopes to receive 80 applications from Princeton students and to recruit about 24 of them into the program, An said.

"Our acceptance rate [of Princeton students] shows you what type of person we are finding on campus," Jaramillo said. "These students are looking to have tremendous responsibility and impact on the world and they are looking for jobs that will give them that impact immediately and will give them the opportunity to be a part of a great movement."

Misconceptions about the impact of the AmeriCorps cuts abound on campus, however, and TFA representatives are working hard to dispel the confusion and to make the organization more visible to students.

They set up tables in Frist Campus Center last week and recruitment representatives are organizing several more information sessions leading up to the first application deadline in October, said Rachel Phillips '04, a TFA student representative.

Nick Iannuzzi '04, who was concerned about TFA's status, said the information sessions were helpful.

"I was initially concerned with the cuts but the student reps cleared things up for me," Iannuzzi said. He is considering applying to TFA.

Yet as TFA begins an aggressive recruitment campaign for new corps members, other AmeriCorps programs are scaling back or shutting down completely, their dependence upon AmeriCorps for funding ultimately serving as their death sentence.

"Other AmeriCorps programs are going to suffer a lot more than Teach for America, but I think we can have an important impact on getting the AmeriCorps grants back in the future," Guyer said. "A lot of former corps members are involved in the political arena, and TFA members will certainly be involved in trying to help AmeriCorps regain its funding."