The Assumption Program of Loans for Education (APLE), a State program designed for students who are entering the teaching profession, enables students who are enrolled in a program leading to an initial teaching credential to have educational loans assumed by the California Student Aid Commission.
The basic APLE program assumes up to $11,000 in educational loans in association with four consecutive years of full-time teaching in a designated teacher shortage field in an eligible California K-12 public school. To be eligible to participate in the APLE program, an individual is required to teach in any one of the following:
- A designated teacher shortage field, which includes any of the following:
- Mathematics
- Science
- English and Language Arts
- Foreign Language
- Special Education
- Schools serving a large population of students from low-income families,
- Low-performing schools, defined as those in the bottom 50 percentile of the Academic Performance Index (API),
- Schools having a high percentage of teachers holding emergency permits,
- Schools serving rural areas,
- State Special Schools.
APLE participants who teach in mathematics, science, or special education may receive both the basic $11,000 and up to $1,000 of additional loan assumption during each of four years. Another $1,000 of benefits may be received in each of the four years by individuals teaching mathematics, science or special education in a school ranked in the lowest 20 percentile of the State’s API, resulting in a maximum of $19,000 in loan assumption benefits.
The APLE program will assume educational loans that were incurred to meet the costs associated with obtaining a baccalaureate degree or an initial teaching credential through (a) one or more of the primary federal student loan programs or (b) institutional educational loans.
If you have taken an educational loan and plan to teach in a shortage field and/or in a school that qualifies as a result of serving high need populations, we encourage you to apply. There are a substantial number of APLE allocations still available, and if you are eligible you will have an excellent chance of obtaining one.
For further information, please visit the California Student Aid Commission APLE Website. It contains additional program information and all applications.