Our Purpose:

The Sustaining Educators for a Brighter Fund has been designed to support the growing external financial demands students within the Department of Teaching & Learning (T&L) face.

Our Students:

Teaching & Learning is currently comprised of approximately 600 undergrad and graduate students representing certification in Early Childhood, Childhood, Secondary, and Multilingual Education. An integral component of our student’s educational experiences and requirements involves both student teaching and passing of state-sponsored exams.

These external licensure requirements, unique to our programs, create an often large financial commitment for T&L students. Three of the biggest areas being transportation to student teaching sites, supplies for classrooms/lesson plans, and certification exams. Currently, the department does not have the resources necessary to support our students with demonstrated need in these areas.

Your Support:

With your donations, we are hoping to support our at-need students in easing the costs necessary to student teach and be certified.

In 2018, the required exams for certification cost:

​​ *Additionally, the current cost for a monthly Metrocard is $122.

Each year, the state of New York sends our department an undetermined number of vouchers for certification exams that we distribute among students with financial need. Last year, we were only able to award vouchers to 30% of undergraduates & 10% of graduates who applied. Your donation will help the department to increase these percentages.

Currently, we have been unable to award any requests for assistance to purchase metro cards for travel to student teaching sites.

Student Testimonies:

Rachel W., MA candidate, Childhood/Special Education:

Graduate school is extremely expensive, exams for my certification are a large addition on an already expensive education. Any financial assistance from the department would be of great benefit to all students who have dedicated their lives to a career that requires constant learning and professional development.”

Joanna K., MA candidate, Early Childhood/Special Education:

“This spring I was lucky enough to receive a voucher from NYU that paid for one of my certification exams. Knowing that at least one of my exams was covered allowed me to shift my focus from the stress of saving up week to week and allowed me to spend more time thinking critically about what it means to be a thoughtful and effective practitioner. As emerging educators, we often talk about how important it is for teachers to have resources and support from their administration. Receiving this support from NYU allowed me to see firsthand just how true that is.”