Carnegie Mellon University

Information for Parents & Families

We strongly encourage our students to be proactively involved in the financial aid process that affects them; however, we understand that parents and family members sometimes require specific information to assist them with educational expenses. Additionally, Carnegie Mellon believes that the parent and family contribution is a central component to helping students pay for college. To this end, the following will assist parents in making the financial aid process a little easier.

Visit The HUB's Parent & Family webpage.

Parent Access to Student Records

Carnegie Mellon adheres to a federal law called the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that sets privacy standards for student educational records and requires institutions to publish a compliance statement, including a statement of related institutional policies. Under FERPA, we will not disclose any student's financial aid information to parents unless the student provides written consent.

Parent Contribution

Federal Direct PLUS Loans

In deciding how to pay for educational expenses, parents may want to consider borrowing a Federal Direct PLUS Loan to finance a portion of the costs. This loan is a non-need-based loan by the Department of Education and is credit-based.

Federal Direct PLUS Loan

Private Loan Options

Private parent loans are also offered through private lenders within FASTChoice. These are private loans that a parent or guardian can borrow on behalf of a student and a credit check is used to determine eligibility. 

Private Loans

Noncustodial Parent PROFILE

Carnegie Mellon believes that noncustodial parents have a responsibility to contribute to their child's educational expenses. The noncustodial parent contribution is calculated using child support and noncustodial parent information from the CSS PROFILE and the CSS Noncustodial Parent PROFILE. This is required only for those whose parents are divorced or separated.

Noncustodial Parent PROFILE