next steps
Help your student through the final steps to becoming a student at CMU! Your student can log in through the student applicant portal with the same username and password they used to submit their application.
Help your student get ready
Help your student take the next steps to reserve their spot in the incoming class, book a time to schedule classes at orientation and apply for housing.
First, your student will need to submit or defer their enrollment deposit. Start by having them log in to their student applicant portal with the same username and password they used to submit their application!
Step 1: Log in to the student applicant portal
Your student can access all of their next steps in the applicant portal. To log in, they'll use the same username and password they used for their online application to CMU.
LOGIN to student applicant portal
Step 2: Submit or defer the deposit
Let us know your student is ready!
Submit the enrollment deposit (or choose the defer option) right in your student's application portal. If you defer, the payment will be added to the first fall bill. Either way, you’re locking in their spot in the incoming class.
Submit your deposit by May 1, and you’ll receive a CMU Bound yard sign.
Step 3: Set up a CMU account
Next, your student will need to set up their CMU account and their official CMU email. They'll use the "New CMU Account PIN" to get started – found at the bottom of their congratulations letter, or in the "Next Steps" section after logging in to the applicant portal.
To log in to the applicant portal, they'll use the same username and password they created for their application.
They’ll use their student account to:
- Create their student email, where we’ll send important updates and information.
- Register for classes.
- Apply for housing.
- View and accept a financial aid package.
- Log in to Scholarship Universe, a portal for finding more scholarship opportunities.
- Receive their student ID card.
Step 4: Reserve an orientation date
The sooner, the better!
Your student will sign up for classes at orientation. Spots are first-come, first-served, so it’s best to do this as soon as possible!
Orientation is where your student will sign up for classes – help them get their first choices with an early orientation date.
To reserve an orientation date, your student must have submitted the $200 enrollment deposit. It also helps if they've set up their CMU student email and their student account.
Orientation is valuable for supporters, too! You’ll hear from current CMU students and staff and have the chance to ask questions about your student’s time here.
For students starting Fall 2026: Orientation dates are available from April to June. Registration opens in February.
For students starting in Spring 2026:
Orientation dates are available from October to January. Registration opens in August.
Step 5: Apply for housing
All first- and second-year students are required to live on campus, unless they qualify for an exemption.
Once the deposit is processed, we'll send our Residential Community Living Guide to their new cmich.edu email. This guide will help them through next steps like choosing a meal plan, selecting campus housing and finding a roommate.
Once your student has set up a CMU account, they’ll use that username and password to log into the housing process, too.
For students starting Fall 2026:
The housing process is now open.
For students starting in Spring 2026:
The housing process opens in October.
The Central Career Guarantee
With our Central Career Guarantee, you can feel extra confident in your student's future. Students who are eligible and opt in are guaranteed a job offer or acceptance to graduate school within six months of graduation – or they'll receive $2,000 to help support them while continuing their search.*
Students opt in during their first semester at CMU and confirm their participation each year while completing a roadmap of experiences designed to support career success. The Guarantee is open to students in any undergraduate major!
Other reminders
Send final transcript
We recommend having your student submit official transcripts submitted as soon as they can after high school graduation.
Have your student’s high school counselor email their final transcripts to apply@cmich.edu or order them through Parchment.
Encourage your student to have all official transcripts sent to us before registering for courses. That way, all their earned credit will be applied in advance.
Complete the FAFSA
If you and your student haven’t already, don’t forget to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
FAFSA is the only way to qualify for some of the $120 billion the U.S. Department of Education awards in federal grants, loans and work study aid. CMU’s school code is 002243. Even if you don’t plan on taking out loans, we strongly encourage you to complete the FAFSA.
Plus, Michigan high schools students could earn up to $27,500 over five years ($5,500 a year) as a full-time student at CMU with the Michigan Achievement Scholarship. Just have your student mark CMU as their first-choice school on their FAFSA.
Michigan residents with adjusted gross income and assets less than $65,000 are eligible to attend CMU tuition-free with the CMU Tuition Advantage. No extra application; FAFSA determines eligibility!
Plan to complete your student's FAFSA as soon as possible. We'll use that information to calculate their scholarship and aid offer.
Check out our blog on FAFSA!
Find scholarship matches
Students looking for more scholarships can check out Scholarship Universe!
Students can answer a few questions and Scholarship Universe will help connect them with donor-based internal (CMU) scholarship opportunities which may qualify for. Find even more opportunities with Scholarship Universe - Gold, which connects students to external opportunities (outside CMU).