Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship

The Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship provides tuition and stipend to students studying designated foreign languages in combination with area studies or international aspects of professional studies. The priority is to encourage the study of less commonly taught modern languages. The U.S. Department of Education (US/ED) funds these awards under the provisions of Title VI of the Higher Education Act. The amount of funding and number of awards are contingent upon annual US/ED program approval, federal regulations, as well as continued congressional funding, all of which may change from year to year.

Applications are now closed. The next application is set to open November 1, 2025.

START HERE: U-M FLAS Applicant Resources Page

Advising

Current FLAS fellows and prospective applicants may attend an info session, sign up for advising appointments, or join the drop-in sessions. We strongly recommend all applicants view the Info Session Recording before meeting with a FLAS Coordinator for advising.

By Appointment: Advising appointments are available through the online advising portal. Appointments are held over phone or video chat.

Drop-In Advising: Thursdays from 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM on Zoom.

Interested applicants should visit the U-M FLAS Applicant Resources Page prior to scheduling an appointment or attending Drop-In Advising.

Info Sessions

Please CLICK HERE to view the information session recording.

Application Components

Academic Recommendation Letters (Two for graduate students, one for undergraduate students)
Language Instructor Recommendation
FLAS Statement of Purpose
Resume or curriculum vitae
Transcripts

FLAS Fellowship - Academic Year Application

FLAS Fellowship - Summer Application

U-M FLAS Applicant Resource Page

Please see the FLAS Applicant Resource Page for more information on the fellowship and application.

Eligible Languages: Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Bosnian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Nahuatl, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Quechua, Russian, Serbian, Swahili, Tamil, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uyghur, Uzbek, Yiddish, Yoruba.

The languages listed above have been pre-approved as eligible. Restrictions may apply to certain languages. Other languages may be approved on a case-by-case basis. For more details, please see the U-M FLAS Applicant Resources Page; go to the Languages & Levels section under each fellowship type.

Contact: ii.flasinfo@umich.edu

Eligibility

Each FLAS grantee must meet the following eligibility criteria:

Citizenship: U.S. citizen or permanent resident
Student Status:
- Undergraduate students must be currently enrolled in a degree program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- Graduate/Professional students must be currently enrolled in, or applicants to, a graduate/professional degree program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Applicants to JD and MBA programs are not eligible to apply due to the requirements of the first-year curriculum.
- Summer Language Institute applicants, including UM-Dearborn, UM-Flint, and non-University of Michigan students, are eligible to apply for Summer FLAS
Program of Study: Academic Year Fellows must be enrolled in a program of study that combines modern foreign language training with international or area studies or with the international aspects of professional training. Summer FLAS Fellows must enroll in a summer intensive language program that teaches the equivalent of one academic year (two terms) of language. Both Academic Year and Summer Fellows must enroll in an eligible language at the intermediate level (2nd-year level) or above during the fellowship period. An exception may be made on a case-by-case basis to enroll in a beginning-level language for graduate students if they already possess advanced proficiency in another language of the region. No exceptions for undergraduates.
Language Fluency: Native speakers are not eligible. A student who already possesses language fluency equivalent to an educated native speaker in the language for which the award is sought will be assigned the lowest priority in the selection of fellows.

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