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In the 2025-26 State Programs and Procedures Manual, the Office of Higher Education is revising the timeline for implementation of updates to eligibility criteria for the MI Future Educator Stipend to take effect Winter/Spring 2026.
This revision is based on feedback from colleges and universities about the time needed to implement the change.
For Fall 2025, student teachers must be participating full-time or its equivalency in required student teaching coursework, defined as either:
- Full-time enrollment in required student teaching coursework.
- Be completing 300 or more student contact hours while student teaching.
Effective Winter/Spring 2026, student teachers must meet both of the following criteria to qualify for a MI Future Educator Stipend award:
- Be enrolled full-time in student teaching coursework, and
- Complete a minimum of 300 student contact hours.
Students must be participating full-time in a required student teaching experience (also called the internship), in a Michigan public school or public-school academy. This student teaching experience must be the supervised, clinical capstone experience that requires a minimum of 300 student contact hours.
Other eligibility requirements for the MI Future Educator Stipend are unchanged, and include the following.
Students must:
- Have completed the MI Future Educator Stipend application.
- Be admitted into an eligible Educator Preparation Program (EPP).
- Be working towards teacher certification.
- Meet the institution’s Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) policy.
- Not be employed by the district as a teacher of record.
State budget: We are still awaiting any potential legislative updates, which will be shared once the Fiscal Year 2026 budget is finalized. One proposed change would limit MI Future Educator Stipend eligibility to two semesters per student. As always, all State financial aid programs, including the MI Future Educator Stipend, are subject to legislative appropriation and approval. Legislative changes in the FY26 budget will be effective for the 2025-26 Academic Year.
Manual: MiLEAP OHE is finalizing the 2025-26 State Programs and Procedures Manual to the maximum extent possible without a FY26 state budget. We will be sharing this preliminary manual with you soon, and the manual will include this revised timeline.
Technology: The 2025-26 academic year will open in MiSSG on September 2, 2025. You will be able to certify students on that date.
Payments: Our goal is to make payments as close to the start of each semester as possible. For Fall 2025, the first payments will be processed after the FY26 state budget is final.
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