Teachers do a great deal of work outside of school to create functional, fun and fascinating classroom environments. But, along with hours of planning comes a lot of spending to bring those ideas to life — and more often than not, teachers pay out of their own pockets.
Luckily, there are a few financing options available for teachers, including credit cards, that can cover classroom needs. Although it isn’t ideal to need to use a credit card for teaching expenses, it can give teachers a nice chunk of rewards to use in the future.
Comparing the best cards for teachers
Card name
Annual fee
Rewards
Bankrate score
Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card
2 percent back on purchases
4.3/5
Prime Visa
$0 ($139 Prime Membership required)
Prime Card Bonus: Earn 10 percent back or more on a rotating selection of items and categories on Amazon.com with an eligible Prime membership
Unlimited 5 percent back at Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market
Unlimited 5 percent back on Chase Travel℠ bookings
2 percent back at restaurants, gas stations, local transit and commuting
2 percent back on local transit and commuting
1 percent back on all other purchases
4.1/5
Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express
3 percent cash back at U.S. supermarkets, U.S. gas stations and U.S. online retail purchases of up to $6,000 per calendar year in purchases in each category (then 1 percent)
1 percent cash back on other purchases
4.6/5
Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
5 percent cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores, internet, cable and phone services per year
2 percent cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants per year
1 percent on all other purchases
4.3/5
Top cards for teachers
Best for flat-rate cash rewards
The Wells Fargo Active Cash card is one of the best flat-rate cash rewards cards available. While it isn’t a strictly teacher-oriented card, any teacher can use this card effectively for both work and personal expenses. You’ll earn a generous amount of cash rewards for every purchase you make, which includes purchases that would typically only earn 1 percent back or none at all.
Pros
Its flat-rate rewards make it easy to increase the minimum cash rewards you earn on office supplies, notebooks and other classroom materials.
You won’t pay an annual fee to hold this card, so every dollar you earn is your own.
Cons
It lacks boosted rewards categories for specific purchases, which you might sometimes find on other cards.
You’ll pay a foreign currency conversion fee with this card if you use it for international purchases.
Best for Amazon purchases
Since Amazon sells just about every kind of product, the Prime Visa is a great way for Prime members to earn a high rate of cash back on their purchases. There are thousands of different school supplies available on Amazon, making it a great venue for teachers to research options for their classroom supplies. Along with free, fast shipping and competitive pricing, Prime members are spoiled with the rewards and perks that come with the Prime Visa.
Pros
High cash back rates for Amazon purchases, a site on which school supplies are in abundance.
The card is free to hold for Prime members, so it’s a great way to maximize your costly Prime membership.
Cons
Amazon Prime is $139 per year. Unless you already have Prime for other reasons, like fast shipping and streaming, this card will be difficult to justify unless you spend over $2,800 on Amazon each year.
You can’t transfer rewards to pool points with other Chase cards, so you won’t benefit from the travel transfer benefits of Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Best for snacks
Snacks in the classroom are a great way to get students to socialize, but they’re also an opportunity to teach about healthy eating habits and motivate students to participate in classroom discussions as a reward mechanism. If you want to include snacks in your lesson plans, consider one of the best cards for groceries: The Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express. You’ll earn a top rewards rate for U.S. supermarket purchases without any annual fee.
Pros
This card doubles as a great card for teaching expenses and for personal use because it has boosted rewards in a handful of everyday categories.
Comes with a generous streaming credit for the Disney+ Bundle, which is hard to find on a card with no annual fee.
Cons
You won’t earn boosted rewards if you shop at wholesale clubs or superstores like Walmart, Target or Costco.
You’ll pay a foreign transaction fee for international purchases.
Best for school supplies
If you have an independent source of income, you can get a business credit card without a business. Doing so can help you access some of the best credit cards for office supplies and other classroom essentials. The Ink Business Cash Card would be a great addition to your card strategy as a teacher because you’ll earn boosted rewards at office supply stores, where there are often back-to-school sales.
Pros
Boost your rewards at office supply stores to help blunt the blow to your wallet that back-to-school spending is likely to have.
It doesn’t charge an annual fee so you can start maximizing rewards from the moment you hold the card.
Cons
You’ll need to supply income-earning proof to the issuer for your business, whether it’s traditional or non-traditional.
Although unlikely to impact your school supplies purchases, this card’s $25,000 rewards cap could be limiting if you use this card to fund other expenses for your business.
How to choose a credit card for teachers
If you’re not sure how to decide on the right card for you as a teacher, you can start by following these steps:
Know your credit score and what type of rewards you want. Knowing your credit score will help you narrow down your options. From there, you can decide whether you’d do better with a flat-rate card or one with boosted category rewards. There are plenty of credit cards on the market available for people with good credit in particular that offer potential rewards and savings on a variety of purchases. A boosted category rewards card or flat-rate card can help you earn rewards that can eventually cover the cost of purchases for the classroom.
Consider getting a store-branded card. If you do all of your classroom shopping at one specific store, you may look into credit cards that are co-branded with your store of choice. While there are a few things to watch out for with store cards, using them for this kind of spending can net serious rewards you can use over time. When choosing a co-branded credit card that works best for you, think about where you spend most, both for your class and for daily life.
Look for cards that focus on snacks and school supplies. There are a few cards that offer boosted rewards on office supplies and grocery store purchases, spending categories that are prominent in a teacher’s classroom budget. You may want to consider a card that rewards these kinds of purchases.
Alternative ways for teachers to finance classrooms
If you want to avoid credit cards when financing your classroom needs, there are a few other options available. Consider looking into:
Donation drives. Linking up with other teachers in your school or even around your community to create a donation drive of supplies your students may need is a great way to get some of the most important pieces you’ll need for your classroom. There are also churches, nonprofits and other affiliate organizations that hold donation drives specifically for student school supplies each year that you can use to tap into the resources you need.
Grants/scholarships. Some of the same entities mentioned above will raise money to provide grants and scholarships for teachers looking to stock up their classrooms. The NEA, a national nonprofit organization founded by educators, is another option to explore when looking for ways to help finance classroom needs.
Crowdfunding. Teachers can turn to friends and family to help meet classroom needs. Sharing Amazon wish lists and using crowdfunding sites like DonorsChoose and other organizations are common ways teachers can raise money or get specific items purchased for them to use in their classrooms.
The bottom line
If you’re still unsure about what type of credit card would best suit you and your classroom needs, you can explore our Spender Typer tool to nail down a card that better fits your unique spending habits. You can also compare some of the cards listed here in a side-by-side view with our Compare Cards tool to get a better look at what card will provide you the most value.
There isn’t a perfect or specified teacher credit card, but there are an assortment of credit card options that could fit your needs and cover classroom costs. Target your classroom’s biggest budget items, find your favorite store to shop at for classroom supplies and remember to take into account your own highest everyday spending categories to choose the right card for you.
