National University, California’s leading source of credentialed teachers, will offer a scholarship to every alumnus in California who is a credentialed teacher and is laid off in 2010 due to budget cuts, National University Interim President Patricia E. Potter has announced.
The Scholarships, each of which could exceed $2,300 in value, will provide unemployed teachers the opportunity to enhance qualifications within their profession or prepare for employment in another field. It will cover 50 percent of tuition for the first three graduate classes taken toward completion of a master’s degree, along with a waiver of the $60 application fee for qualified alumni who enroll between July 1 and September 30, 2010. President Potter calls the initiative Project Teacher Assistance.
More than 25,600 California teachers received layoff notices in March, according to the California Teachers Association. By law, teachers must be given at least five months’ notice of possible layoffs. Not all teachers who receive lay off notices will lose their jobs. Nevertheless, a significant number of teachers face the prospect of unemployment during the next school year, adding to the 16,000 California teachers who lost their jobs last year.
According to the Commission on Teaching Credentialing, National University prepared 2,201 teachers for credentialing from July 2007 to June 2008, accounting for 11 percent of the statewide total that year. For the past nine years, National University has prepared more teachers for credentialing than any other single institution of higher education in California.
“Our alumni are consistently recognized among the state’s best and most qualified
K-12 educators,” said President Potter. “These are dedicated professionals who have committed significant time, money and effort to serve their respective students and schools, and we are proud during these challenging times to offer some meaningful assistance to them.”
“Over the years, our University has demonstrated its core values numerous times in service to the communities we serve,” President Potter added. “This isn’t the first time we’ve offered assistance to laid off teachers. We have responded to similar circumstances in the past, and once again we are called do what we can to help.”
To apply for the Project Teacher Assistance scholarship, click here. For more information, call National University at (800) NAT-UNIV.
11255 North Torrey Pines Road
La Jolla, CA 92037-1011
(866) NU ACCESS ext. 8111
(858) 642-8748 Fax
alumni@nu.edu
development@nu.edu
