New incentive aims to attract more S.C. students to teaching

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - As college students return to campuses across South Carolina, some of them are receiving extra scholarship money this year because of what they are studying.

Among them is University of South Carolina sophomore Catherine Hinson, who is from Richland County.

“My dad’s a teacher. He teaches at Blythewood High School, and he’s just always been so positive about his career choice, and I just wanted to do something that would make me happy,” Hinson said.

So she is planning to become an art teacher after graduation and recently got good news that should help her achieve that goal.

“I was really excited! I called my mom, and I was like, ‘Mom, you won’t believe it!’” she recalled.

Hinson is among the students receiving a scholarship enhancement for the first time this fall for majoring in education.

For students to be eligible, they must already receive the LIFE or Palmetto Fellows Scholarship, by meeting certain academic requirements, being from South Carolina, and attending an eligible in-state public or private college.

“The first day, that was what everybody was talking about, and they were so excited,” Hinson said. “I think everybody kind of felt a little bit of relief because it’s just — it’s very helpful.”

If they qualify by majoring in education, students will get up to nearly $10,000 in additional money over their time in college, on top of their scholarship money: For LIFE Scholarship recipients, they can receive an extra $2,500 a year for up to three years, and for Palmetto Fellows, they can receive an extra $3,300 a year for up to three years.

“Some of these individuals are going to be able to get their last three years of college covered in full, which means they’ll walk out with no student debt, which makes it far more attractive to walk into the teaching profession,” Patrick Kelly with the Palmetto State Teachers Association said. “It also makes it far more financially realistic to walk into the teaching profession.”

Kelly, who also works as a high-school government teacher in Richland County, said this is another way to try to get South Carolina’s best and brightest into the teaching pipeline.

“The completion rate at our universities’ education programs has actually been declining in recent years, which is a huge problem in a state that already has an educator shortage,” he said.

There is a tradeoff: For every year a student receives this scholarship enhancement, they must work in a South Carolina public school, or else they have to pay the money back.

“We find that oftentimes, once someone gets into the profession, if they can make it through year three or year five, they’re far more likely to stay,” Kelly said.

Hinson said that won’t be an issue for her.

“It’s a commitment that you have to be able to make, and I love where I’m from, so I’m happy to work here,” she said.

This scholarship enhancement started more than a decade ago as a way to attract more students into majors and careers in math and science, before expanding this year to education as well.

The state legislature ed the bill to make education majors eligible for this scholarship enhancement without a single vote against it.

Gov. Henry McMaster signed it into law in May.

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