AmeriCorps Education Award
Full-time AmeriCorps members who complete a year of service earn a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award (Education Award) to pay for current educational expenses or to pay back qualified student loans. The Education Award is projected to be valued at $6,495 for the 2022–23 academic year, and individuals may earn Education Awards for up to two year-long service terms. Relay students may participate in AmeriCorps through the Relay Teaching Residency program, Teach For America, or another eligible AmeriCorps service program.
For students currently enrolled in an AmeriCorps program, tuition in the amount of the Education Award is payable during the year. If students do not earn their Education Award for any reason, or if they choose not to use these funds toward paying their tuition balance, they will be responsible for paying this balance out of pocket. If students take a leave of absence, withdraw, are administratively withdrawn, or are dismissed from the program before this balance has been paid through a pending award, it will be payable immediately, even if students have not earned or will not earn their Education Award. For more information on tuition balances from unearned awards, please see Pending Awards. For more information on extenuating circumstances, please see Extenuating Circumstances for AmeriCorps Recipients. For more information on AmeriCorps opt-out policies, please see AmeriCorps Opt-out.
Students who receive an Education Award also should be aware of the following:
- Students may use the award for any educational expenses allowed by the AmeriCorps rules;
- The amount of the Education Award is dependent on congressional funding for the AmeriCorps program and is subject to change. Students are responsible for paying all tuition and fees that are intended to be covered by their Education Awards; and
- Students who do not receive their award (due to withdrawal, administrative withdrawal, or program dismissal from Relay; withdrawal, administrative withdrawal, or program dismissal from their AmeriCorps program; or any other reason) will be responsible for covering out of pocket any portion of their tuition and fees including from unearned awards and would have otherwise been covered by their award.
The Education Award is subject to federal and state tax when it is used; students should consult a tax advisor for more information.
More information about AmeriCorps is available at: http://www.americorps.gov
TFA corps members may be granted TFA Education Awards at the end of each year of service in lieu of a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award. Relay is eligible to accept these awards for students expecting the TFA Education Awards. All terms and conditions related to tuition balances from unearned pending awards still apply.
AmeriCorps Enrollment and Relay Tuition
Students may be eligible to earn a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award (up to $6,495) upon completion of the 2022–23 school year. Students often choose to apply their earned education award to cover a portion of their Relay tuition. Failure to complete all required AmeriCorps enrollment steps and join the AmeriCorps program if you’re eligible means that you:
- will not earn a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award;
- will not receive a Relay Residency Scholarship of $6,000; and
- will be responsible (not your employer) for paying the additional tuition amount associated with the unearned education award.
AmeriCorps Opt-out
Students may decide to opt-out of AmeriCorps program enrollment. To initiate an opt-out, students must submit the Relay AmeriCorps Application and select the “concern question.” All opt-out requests will be granted since students have full autonomy to decline AmeriCorps membership. However, Relay reserves the right to determine if an alternative Relay Residency Scholarship of $6,000 will be provided based on selection criteria. If you wish to opt-out of the AmeriCorps program enrollment, your requests will be granted but Relay cannot guarantee that you will receive alternative funding.
Once an opt-out request has been reviewed under Relay’s “opt-out with funding” criteria, students will receive a funding decision email. Below are the possible decisions:
- Approved Relay Residency Scholarship: the opt-out request was granted and met Relay’s criteria for alternative funding of $6,000 provided by Relay.
- Denied Relay Residency Scholarship: the opt-out request was granted but the rationale provided did not meet Relay’s criteria for alternative funding of $6,000. The student will be responsible (not their employer) for the remaining tuition balance of $6,000 associated with the unearned AmeriCorps education award. Students can request to appeal the opt-out denied funding decision by contacting the AmeriCorps team at support@relay.edu.
Students receiving a scholarship through their employer may check with their employer regarding the scholarship amount or reach out to support@relay.edu for more information. Employers may reach out to the Partner Billing team at partnerbilling@relay.edu.
As an alternative, students declining both Segal AmeriCorps Education Award and/or Relay Residency Scholarship may choose to pay $6,000 of tuition directly out of pocket. Students can review their unpaid tuition balances on their Nelnet student accounts.
Outside Scholarships
Students may receive financial assistance from sources other than federal and institutional financial aid programs. Under federal law and school policy, Relay must consider outside resources when deciding what other aid or loans students may be eligible to receive. Outside awards may reduce students’ eligibility for federal and institutional financial aid.
Outside awards are incorporated into financial aid packages: first, they may be used to reduce students’ out-of-pocket responsibilities, and they may replace other institutional scholarships. Students whose financial aid packages are adjusted to account for outside awards in the middle of an academic year will receive email notifications and/or updated financial aid offers.