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.
Traditions: Those students who were eligible and awarded the CMU Traditions at the start of their incoming year of 2023-24 and prior are grandfathered into the discontinued CMU Traditions program. This program is no longer offered for other students.
The CMU Traditions Program used a combination of federal, state and institutional aid to provide funding equivalent to the cost of tuition (30 credit hours) and mandatory fees for incoming first-time college students or transfer students who are Michigan residents, have a combined student and family adjusted gross income of $50,000 or less, and have family assets of $50,000 or less, and meet the eligibility requirements. The CMU Traditions Program covers eligible tuition and student service fees for new first-time college students. Traditions is not tuition specific and if students receives funding from other resources that cover more than the cost of tuition, that can be used to cover your other costs.
Tuition Advantage: Starting for the 2024-25 academic year, newly admitted (UG main campus) Michigan Pell eligible students whose families have an adjusted gross income and family assets of $65,000 or less may be eligible to for the new CMU Tuition Advantage program. Through Tuition Advantage, we ensure the cost of 30 credit hours (15 credits in the fall and 15 credits in the spring) is covered through a combination of federal, state and institutional aid. Tuition Advantage is not tuition specific but is calculated based on 30 credits per year. If a student qualifies for other resources that equate to more than the cost of tuition (such as those outside the calculated eligibility), that can be used to cover other costs.
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:
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://tsa.ed.gov/#/home/.
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.