Lone Star College students pursuing a teaching degree can now get paid to tutor elementary students through a new partnership with Houston-area nonprofit iEducate.
The program is open to students at all eight main Lone Star College campuses, including LSC-Montgomery, which serves The Woodlands area. It places Associate of Arts in Teaching students in paid tutoring roles at partner school districts, where they log at least 600 hours of direct instructional practice per academic year.
iEducate will hire up to 20 students in the first year, with plans to scale to 50 in year two and as many as 100 in year three, depending on funding and demand, according to a Lone Star College announcement Wednesday, Sept. 16.
AAT credits transfer to any public university in Texas.
Chantell Link, LSCS chief of industry partnerships and career advancement, said the partnership connects classroom learning to real work. She said students earn income while gaining practical experience and developing instructional and professional skills.
iEducate CEO Arun Gir said college students are already likely to work while enrolled, and the partnership turns that work into preparation for a teaching career. Gir said tutors apply what they learn in college courses, build professional skills and help elementary students grow academically.
The partnership comes as Texas faces persistent teacher shortages. The share of uncertified teachers in the state more than tripled between the 2019-20 and 2024-25 school years, rising from 3.8% to 12%, according to a Learning Policy Institute analysis of Texas Education Agency data. Texas schools have had to hire more than 40,000 teachers per year to replace those leaving the profession, the report found.
State lawmakers responded in 2025 with House Bill 2, which included more than $400 million annually for teacher recruitment, preparation and mentoring, plus an estimated $4 billion for teacher and staff pay raises.
iEducate embeds college students alongside teachers in elementary classrooms, primarily on Title I campuses. The nonprofit has previously partnered with Houston ISD, Aldine ISD and Spring ISD. The announcement did not name which districts will host Lone Star College students under the new program.
Students must be in good academic standing to qualify. Paid positions are posted on Handshake, the college system's career portal.
No application deadline has been announced.
Lone Star College enrolled more than 100,000 students for the fall 2026 semester, a first in the system's history.
