Financing grad school for MM in performance

thumper1
Sun, 01 Dec 2019 03:13:19 +0000

@compmom

. Is anyone finding that grad schools are considering under-24’s as independent?

In the majority of cases, once a student has a bachelors degree, they are considered independent for financial aid purposes.

In addition, graduate school funding is way different than undergraduate funding…it is primarily merit based. For music majors, the strength of the audition is the determining factor in most cases, and the schools desire to have you as a grad music student.

Aid comes on the form of scholarships, assistantships, fellowships, sometimes work study, and loans. There aren’t any “entitlements” like the Pell Grant. Grad students can take unsubsidized Direct Loans up to a certain amount, and can take Grad Plus Loans up to the cost of attendance.

Many…many music grad students are not receiving merit aid…and are self funding their masters programs.

Some students receive partial funding but not full funding.

There are exceptions…like Yale, where every music performance masters student is fully funded. But that program is the exception to the rule.