Financial Aid
81% of students in the School of Music have some form of financial aid or scholarship.
Undergraduate
If you're a US citizen or permanent resident, the FAFSA is required to be considered for federal and state financial aid programs. The CSS PROFILE, along with the FAFSA, is required to be considered for all institutional grant and scholarship programs. Regardless of need, we encourage you to complete these documents in order to be considered for any type of funding. Carnegie Mellon is committed to providing competitive need-based financial aid. Follow instructions from the Office of Undergraduate Admission. Deadline: February 15
Less than 15% of undergraduate applicants receive music scholarship. We participate in a "reaction" process with the Office of Admission every April, to review music student packages with interested families, for consideration of music scholarship. The process is very competitive, but we encourage all interested students to apply as cases are reviewed holistically. While we do not have significant scholarship for undergraduate applicants, we hope that the competitive need-based aid will allow admitted students to consider Carnegie Mellon University. Please contact Director of Recruitment & Enrollment to learn more.
Graduate
All Master's applicants to the School of Music are eligible for scholarship and assistantship based on their audition/portfolio review. Assistantships are available in most areas for master's students. Students indicate interest in consideration for a graduate assistantship through the School of Music online application.
All Advanced Music Studies applicants to the School of Music are eligible for scholarship based on their audition/portfolio review. AMS candidates are not eligible for assistantships.
The School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University offers competitive fellowships and assistantships based on merit and institutional need. The average award covers 70% of tuition.
A Graduate Assistantship, available only for Master's candidates, includes a stipend of $10,000 per year (paid biweekly during the academic year) and requires the student to work up to 10 hours per week for their assigned supervisor.
Graduate applicants will apply for assistantship consideration through the School of Music online application.
Fellowship and Assistantships are not available for Music Education Certificate candidates.
TUITION 2023-2024 (UPDATED DECEMBER 2022)
- Master of Music (MM), Master of Science (MS) Per Year (two semesters): $42,200.00
- Advanced Music Studies Certificate -AMSC (Two semesters of study): $ 10,200.00
- Music Education Certification: $586.00 per unit
All admitted domestic graduate students at Carnegie Mellon are eligible for federal loans through The Hub. Please visit Graduate Financial Aid for further information on funding options and note that your FAFSA is processed after you choose to enroll at Carnegie Mellon.
Carnegie Mellon makes comprehensive student consumer information available to all students and interested parties. Estimated Cost of Attendance can be found here. This is typically updated each summer, but costs do not change drastically year-to-year. Please note: there is no graduate campus housing - the room and board estimates are to assist with rent and cost of living estimates for Pittsburgh.
Admitted student appeals for fellowship or assistantship should be sent directly to:
Belmary Lorcas, Director of Recruitment and Enrollment, School of Music
Please do not mail appeals requests.