Teach for America, or TFA, gives college students the opportunity to work on a master’s degree after they graduate while also teaching in a low-income community. It provides students with a full-time salary, including benefits and additional funding for school.

Students apply their junior or senior year and are placed in a city based on preference and previously-taken course work. The final deadline for the 2013-14 academic year is quickly approaching, with applications due by Feb. 15.

TFA recruiting manager and MSU alumnus Randy Warren took part in TFA after he graduated and has made a career out of his passion for the program.

“It’s essential that people become involved because education inequality is one of the biggest problems in the nation,” Warren said. “We can look at two-year-olds and make a plausible guess what their future will be like, and that is wrong.”

According to TFA, only 8 percent of children who grow up in a low-income community graduate from college by the age of 24. By stepping up, students are able to make a profound impact on children’s lives, which can be a very unique and gratifying experience, Warren said.

This year, Warren would like to see MSU send 60 students into the program. Majors do not have any bearing on admission into the program, and all majors are welcome to apply. In last year’s national applicant pool, social science majors represented 40 percent of the students who were placed.

MSU alumnus Eric Sarb joined TFA after he graduated in 2011. He did not want to be a teacher at the time, but after being placed at Mariano Azuela Elementary School in Chicago, he fell in love with teaching children.

“Teaching for America has made me a better person,” Sarb said. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do but also the most rewarding.”

Sarb is now in his second year of the program, he said. When he finishes his time with TFA, he hopes to return to Michigan and teach in Detroit.

“I grew up right outside the city (of Detroit) in Dearborn, where I received an excellent education,” Sarb said. “I know that 10 miles away in Detroit, it’s the complete opposite experience. I want to see how I can make the future better through education.”

For Sarb, this experience has been something he can put his heart and soul into. He has taught children with rough backgrounds, and this has changed him as a person. He thinks that although he’s only with the kids while they’re in the classroom, he still can help them to believe they have opportunities to seize.

Psychology senior Caitlin Morton recently was admitted into TFA. She has been working at the Kevin J. Moody Youth Home in Lansing for the past year. Through this, she discovered she wanted to continue to help kids in other cities, she said.

“After seeing the effects of education inequality of kids here in Lansing, I knew that I wanted to help kids in other cities,” Morton said. “I think teaching is a great opportunity to make a difference in (kids’) lives.”