MOUNT PLEASANT, MI Central Michigan Universitys medical school continues to move forward, and now has approval from the Higher Learning Commission.

The commissions approval of the College of Medicines degree means CMU can offer and grant doctor of medicine degrees.

The College of Medicine will open in summer 2013 with its first class of 60 students.

The college has received 1,972 applications. Admissions are open until Dec. 15.

The approval includes access to Title IV funding and allows CMU medical school students to apply for federal financial aid and receive full financial aid packages.

This is a positive step in the recruitment of the first class of medical students, providing the opportunity for them to receive their financial aid packages right away upon being accepted to the college, said Claudia Douglass, interim vice provost for academic affairs.

The Higher Learning Commission Institutional Actions Council will conduct a site visit in the 2013-14 school year to CMUs College of Medicine to assess the programs quality.

CMU Medical Education Partners, which includes both hospitals, will manage five residency programs, emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery and plan a sixth in psychiatry.

The Saginaw medical school locations for clinical education will be at 600 Irving near Covenant and at Hoyt and South Franklin near St. Marys.

The hospitals are expected to contribute more than $16 million to graduate medical education.

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CMU receives approval from Higher Learning Commission to grant doctor of medicine degrees