South Carolina Teaching Fellows Application Guide 2026–2027: Requirements & Deadline (USA)

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Overview

The South Carolina Teaching Fellows Program has been funded by the SC General Assembly since 1999, and its mission is straightforward: recruit talented, service-minded high school seniors into the teaching profession before they even set foot on a college campus. Each year, up to 230 students are selected to receive fellowship funding while they complete a bachelor’s degree and initial teacher certification at one of eleven partner Teaching Fellows Institutions across the state, including Clemson, the College of Charleston, Winthrop, and multiple University of South Carolina campuses.

What makes the South Carolina Teaching Fellows Program different from a typical merit scholarship is the funding structure. Fellows receive up to $6,000 per year for up to four years (up to $24,000 total), but this money is technically a forgivable loan, not a grant. The loan is forgiven one year at a time as the Fellow teaches — or serves in another approved educationally related role, such as a school counselor, speech pathologist, or media specialist — in a South Carolina public school after graduation. Fellows who don’t complete their service commitment are required to repay the funds, which is a meaningfully different financial obligation than most undergraduate scholarships carry.

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Nationality & Residency Requirements

To meet the South Carolina Teaching Fellows US citizen requirement, applicants must be a US citizen or an eligible non-citizen as defined under South Carolina’s State Residency Statutes at the time of high school graduation. Applicants must also be a legal resident of South Carolina, which the Teaching Fellows Institution verifies after an award offer is made.

One residency detail that a lot of general scholarship directories leave out: students categorized as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients are explicitly not eligible for the South Carolina Teaching Fellows Program. This is a stricter citizenship/residency line than many state scholarship programs draw, and it’s worth confirming directly if your immigration status is anything other than US citizen or a residency-statute-eligible non-citizen.

Academic & GPA Eligibility Requirements

The South Carolina Teaching Fellows GPA requirement works differently than most scholarships on this list. There is no single published minimum GPA to submit an initial application — instead, CERRA’s Initial Scoring Committee evaluates each complete application competitively, weighing your high school transcript (with class rank), ACT/SAT scores where applicable, and your written responses against the full applicant pool rather than against one fixed cutoff.

Differentiating fact: what most competitor articles miss is the conduct certification requirement. Applicants must sign a formal affidavit certifying that they have never been convicted of any felony and have not been convicted of a second or subsequent alcohol- or drug-related misdemeanor within the past academic year. This affidavit is submitted to the college financial aid office and is a distinct eligibility gate separate from academics.

Key academic and eligibility criteria at a glance:

• Applicant must be a high school senior, or a junior graduating early.
• A complete transcript with class rank included is required as part of the supplemental materials.
• ACT and/or SAT score reports are required if applicable to the applicant’s situation.
• Once admitted as a Fellow, students must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.8 at their Teaching Fellows Institution and make continued progress toward teacher licensure to keep the award.
• The signed felony/misdemeanor conduct affidavit described above must be on file.

Application Materials Needed

Before the South Carolina Teaching Fellows application deadline, applicants need to prepare:

1. Completed online application through the Kaleidoscope-hosted Teaching Fellows portal.
2. High school transcript with class rank included.
3. ACT and/or SAT score reports, where applicable.
4. Two reference surveys, submitted directly through the Kaleidoscope system by your recommenders.
5. Signed conduct affidavit certifying no felony convictions and no repeat alcohol/drug-related misdemeanor convictions within the past academic year, submitted to the financial aid office once an award is offered.

Step-by-Step How to Apply

1. Confirm your citizenship, residency, and grade-level eligibility before starting — remember that DACA recipients do not qualify.
2. Create your Kaleidoscope account once the application window opens on October 1 of your senior year (or your final year if graduating early).
3. Complete the online application and monitor your personalized Kaleidoscope dashboard closely — incomplete applications are not scored.
4. Submit the initial application by December 1.
5. Ensure your transcript, test scores, and two reference surveys are submitted by December 7 — this supplemental deadline is easy to miss since it falls after the main application deadline.
6. Wait for scoring committee results. Up to 500 top-scoring applicants are typically invited, no later than early January, to the second phase: a regional interview.
7. Prepare for and attend your regional screening, which includes an interview, an oral presentation on a CERRA-assigned topic, and a 30-minute assessment of writing ability.
8. Watch for final award notifications, typically issued in early spring, with the final number of Fellowships depending on that year’s program budget from the General Assembly.

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Frequently Asked Questions

For more local grants, merit awards, and regional funding across all 50 states, check out our master USA State Scholarships Directory.

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