Will I receive a stipend? Payment? Funding? Flights?

Funding update: 25/07/2024

From 31st August 2024 onwards, our funding will have run out. This means you will need to fund your flights on all programmes (unless we clearly email you to say otherwise.) You will also need to self-fund your TEFL training and support by paying a fixed fee per programme (regardless of duration). See details here.

For programmes running before 31st August 2024, the rules below will still apply:

Our mission is to offer inclusive and accessible projects, so we strive to ensure most or all major expenses are funded upfront. You can usually be funded in one of three ways:

1. Open Access

This programme offers access to placements in China and short-term in Europe, such as 2-3 weeks in Italy in June. You can read more about this here, see option 1.

This pathway's funding covers:

• meals and accommodation while on summer camps
• placement and all support
• full funding for TEFL training and certification
• 100% of our fees and charges

It does not include:

• insurance
• flight funding 
• anything not listed above

2. Funding for university referred candidates:

We offer a custom programme specifically for our partnered universities, this is intended as an insight programme and is our lowest commitment and shortest duration (4-6 weeks in Europe), this programme comes with almost full funding. You can read more about this here, see option 2.

This pathway's funding covers:

• meals and accommodation while on summer camps in Poland or Spain
• placement and all support
• full funding for TEFL training and certification
• 100% of our fees and charges. E.g if you are coming through one of our university partners, the funding we have arranged will cover our fee in full.

It does not include:

• insurance
• flight funding 
• anything not listed above

3. Full funding!

If you are selected for our TESOL Primer or TESOL Direct Access funding routes, then you access full funding. You can read more about this here, see options 3 and 4. That funding covers everything, including:

• flight funding 
• meals and accommodation
• placement and all support
• insurance
• 100% of our fees and charges
• full funding for TEFL/TESOL training and certification

*A note about stipends for those on the TESOL pathway

Whether or not you receive cash payment/stipends on top of the funded elements will depend on whether you join a short-stay (sojourn, or summer) or long stay (fellowship).

For short-stays, we don't issue stipends directly to participants because these programmes are structured as all-inclusive, this decision is partly because visa regulation in various countries may not allow stipends for work-placements because of work visa law. For long-stays, as you are usually on a work or equivalent visa, therefore you can receive stipends/monthly allowances, these would be in-line with the local minimum wage in-country for TEFL teacher trainees.

So, short roles are not stipend-ed/paid but instead receive generous funded, thus Gotoco participants will usually receive: accommodation and all meals, cultural activities, as well as fully-funded training and certification for either the TEFL/TESOL or the Trinity CertTESOL.

Other funding pathways?

If you are not linked to the UK, then we probably won't have funding available. We used to offer hundreds of places for non-UK candidates, but COVID closed most of them, we hope to reopen them again asap. So watch this space, you can email us to check funding available on each of those.

Final remarks...

Funding is complicated, so if you have questions or anything is unclear, or need us to assist you with a grant application, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!