New loan program helps Craven high school graduates pay for college if they come back to teach
Incentive to return
New loan program helps Craven high school graduates pay for college if they come back to teach
August 14, 2009 6:14 PM
Laura Oleniacz
Sun Journal Staff

Alexia McDonald already has all of her clothes packed and ready to go as she prepares to leave home for college next week.

The Havelock High School graduate leaves Friday for UNC-Charlotte, where she will study to be a middle school teacher. She said she was ready to go in July.

“I’m ready to get away and open a new chapter of my life and experience everything that life has to offer,” she said.

As excited as McDonald is to get away, she’s also passionate about coming back to her hometown. And come back, she will.

McDonald was the first student chosen to receive a $3,500 loan from Craven County Schools that will be forgiven if she teaches for the system for a year after graduation.

“I really wanted to go for this grant because it gives you the opportunity to come back and teach in the Craven County community,” she said. “I feel that’s what I want to do because the Craven community has given me so much.”

The loan program, called the Albert H. Bangert Memorial Student Loan/Scholarship Students Entering Education (SEED) Program, gives student loans on a one-year basis that are forgiven for each year the student teaches in Craven County Schools.

A student who is entering a four-year college or university and plans to teach pre-kindergarten, elementary, middle or secondary education can borrow a maximum loan of $3,500 per year, and students entering a two-year college can borrow up to $1,500 per year, according to a press release. A student can get a maximum of $14,000 in four years.

According to system policy, a student has up to six years to fulfill the teaching obligation, although he or she is not guaranteed a job even if there is an opening.

“All teaching positions with the Craven County Schools are offered to the most qualified applicant,” the policy states.

The program was approved by the Craven County Board of Education on March 19, and McDonald’s loan is still being finalized, said Anetta Davenport, Craven’s director of public relations. The loan must be secured by a promissory note and deed of trust on real property.

“We were trying to come up with strategies to help teachers within Craven County, and to help students,” Davenport said. “There’s always a need to grow your own, if you will, to not only help the students but to help Craven County and to help the economy in Craven County.”

McDonald said she’s known she wanted to be a teacher for a long time.

“As long as I can remember,” she said.

The 18-year-old said she was particularly inspired by her second grade teacher at Roger Bell Elementary School, who was a favorite among her classmates.

“She always pushed you, she always inspired you, she always made you feel there was nothing you couldn’t accomplish,” she said. “That was her biggest thing — don’t give up, ever.”

At Havelock, she participated in the school’s Teacher Cadet Program during both her junior and senior years. She had the opportunity to create a lesson plan and teach a class.

In college, the loans will help her pay for a significant chunk of her tuition, although she’s working at a restaurant to help pay for the rest.

“It’s a great thing, it gives you money and helps you pay for college so you’re not as stressed, and it helps you come back and teach in the community you grew up in,” she said of the loan. “It helps out tremendously.”

Laura Oleniacz can be reached at (252) 635-5675 or at loleniacz@freedomenc.com.
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