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Grants

CMU Grants

These grants are awarded on the basis of demonstrated need, with a minimum grant of $50 and a maximum grant not to exceed the gift portion of the student’s financial aid offer. An employee/dependent tuition benefit is counted in the gift portion of the student’s financial aid offer. Receipt of the tuition benefit will result in the cancellation of a CMU grant.

Federal Pell Grants

 Students apply for a Federal Pell grant by filing a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).  Eligibility for a Federal Pell grant is determined by a need analysis formula prescribed by Congress. 

Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG)

These are federal grants awarded by CMU to undergraduate students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents demonstrating financial need. The amount of the grant is determined based on the federal needs analysis and available funding. Students must be making satisfactory academic progress to continue receiving the grant, and meet all other conditions outlined in the Financial Aid Eligibility section of this Bulletin.

TEACH Grant Program

Through the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, Congress created the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program that provides grants of up to $4,000 per year to students who intend to teach in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves students from low-income families.

Under the budget Control Act of 2011, TEACH grant funding was reduced. TEACH grant awards where the first disbursement is made on or after October 1, 2020 must be reduced by 5.70% from the original statutory amounts.

Conditions. In exchange for receiving a TEACH Grant, you must agree to serve as a full-time teacher in a high-need field in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves low-income students (see below for more information on high-need fields and schools serving low-income students). As a recipient of a TEACH Grant, you must teach for at least four academic years within eight calendar years of completing the program of study for which you received a TEACH Grant. IMPORTANT: If you fail to complete this service obligation, all amounts of the TEACH Grants that you received will be converted to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan. You must then repay this loan to the U.S. Department of Education. You will be charged interest from the date the grant(s) was disbursed.

Student Eligibility Requirements at CMU:

  • Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), although you do not have to demonstrate financial need
  • Be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen
  • Be accepted into the undergraduate Teacher Education program or into the Graduate Studies Master of Arts in Special Education program and have a signed elementary or secondary education major or minor in a high-need subject
  • Have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25 and maintain that GPA throughout your academic program (or score above the 75th percentile on a national standardized college admissions test)
  • Complete TEACH Grant entrance counseling each year at: https://studentaid.gov/ 
  • Complete TEACH Grant exit counseling at: https://studentaid.gov/  
  • Sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve and Promise to Pay each year at https://studentaid.gov/  
  • Undergraduate students are eligible only if they are pursuing their first undergraduate degree. Students pursuing a second undergraduate degree, teachers working on teacher certification and graduate students who have a “conditional admission” status are NOT eligible for the TEACH Grant. Graduate students are eligible only if they are pursuing a Master of Arts in Special Education or a Master of Arts in Reading and Literacy degree.
  • NOTE: CMU has determined the following major is NOT eligible for a TEACH Grant because students will be unable to fulfill the teaching requirements:

    B.S. in Education - Elementary Standard Certificate students who do not have a high-need field major or minor

  • Sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve (see below for more information on the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve).
  • To initiate application for the TEACH Grant, students must contact the Center for Student Services, College of Education and Human Services, EHS 421, Central Michigan University, 989-774-3309.

High-Need Field

High-need fields are the specific subject areas identified below:

  • Bilingual Education and English Language Acquisition.
  • Foreign Language.
  • Mathematics.
  • Reading Specialist.
  • Science.
  • Special Education.

Other identified teacher shortage areas as of the time you begin teaching in that field. These are teacher subject shortage areas (not geographic areas) that are listed in the Department of Education’s Annual Teacher Shortage Area Nationwide Listing at https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/pol/tsa.html 

Schools Serving Low-Income Students. Schools serving low-income students include any elementary or secondary school that is listed in the Department of Education’s Annual Directory of Designated Low-Income Schools for Teacher Cancellation Benefits at  https://studentaid.gov/app/tcli.action 

Teach Grant Agreement to Serve. Each year you receive a TEACH Grant, you must sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve that will be available electronically on a Department of Education Web site. The TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve specifies the conditions under which the grant will be awarded, the teaching service requirements, and includes an acknowledgment by you that you understand that if you do not meet the teaching service requirements you must repay the grant as a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan, with interest accrued from the date the grant funds were disbursed. Specifically, the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve will provide that:

  • For each TEACH Grant-eligible program for which you received TEACH Grant funds, you must serve as a full-time teacher for a total of at least four academic years within eight calendar years after you completed or withdrew from the academic program for which you received the TEACH Grant.
  • You must perform the teaching service as a highly-qualified teacher at a low-income school. The term highly-qualified teacher is defined in section 9101(23) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 or in section 602(10) of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act.
  • Your teaching service must be in a high-need field.
  • You must comply with any other requirements that the Department of Education determines to be necessary.

If you do not complete the required teaching service obligation, TEACH Grant funds you received will be converted to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan that you must repay, with interest charged from the date of each TEACH Grant disbursement.