The college admission season brings with it a host of students looking for teacher recommendation letters necessary for many college applications. Unlike in past years, however, teachers will no longer receive parent grant money for their efforts on behalf of students.

In previous years, teachers received a grant from the parent foundation for the time spent writing recommendation letters. Teachers were paid hourly for each letter after writing five, with the foundation spending $5,200 on teacher compensation in the spring of 2012.  The foundation also paid counselors $40 an hour for every rec letter after writing 18.

A teacher like Mike Kelemen, who estimated he writes 15 to 20 letters a year, could stand to receive a few hundred dollars.

Kelemen said that the extra cash was appreciated by teachers, but said not receiving compensation will have no effect on the quality or quantity of letters he writes.

“It just acknowledges that it’s extra time that we spend,” he said. “I’m not going to write worse letters or refuse to do it because I’m not getting paid for it.”

English teacher Emily LaTourrette, however, questioned if the new rules will affect the number of recommendations that teachers choose to write. She said she thinks that it is possible that teachers will write fewer recommendations for students for whom they may be borderline about writing one.

“I do think it will make teachers question a student that is maybe a questionable rec for them, and maybe make those questionable recs into ‘I don’t feel comfortable writing a rec for you,’” LaTourrette said.

She also said she has noticed a rise in demand for letters in the past couple years as the competition to get into elite colleges grows more and more intense.

Additionally, students tend to ask teachers in a few core subjects that look better to college admission agents, LaTourrette said.

Because of this, she is unsure about the lack of compensation since some teachers spend so much more time on letters than others. Still, she echoed Keleman when she said that the extra money is not why she writes rec letters.

“I feel strongly about writing rec letters for students and that won’t change,” LaTourrette said.

Kelemen expressed a similar sentiment.

“I think most people who get into teaching—making more money isn’t their number one motivation anyway,” he said.