Financial Aid and Student Account

If you plan to apply for federal financial aid, including federal student loans and/or federal workstudy, you must submit a completed  Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

For forms, deadlines, and additional information about the graduate financial aid process at Carnegie Mellon University, click here.

If you have any additional questions about the financial aid process, please do not hesitate to contact the Heinz College Office of Financial Aid via email at hzfinaid@andrew.cmu.edu.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program (specific to U.S. federal education loans only) was established in 2007 to encourage individuals to enter and to continue to work full-time in public service jobs. Under this program, borrowers may qualify for forgiveness of the remaining balance due on their eligible federal student loans after they have made 120 payments on those loans under certain repayment plans while employed full time by certain public service employers. Click here for more information about PSLF.

Heinz College does not offer tuition waivers to master's students.

Master's students do not need to submit a financial aid application in order to be considered for scholarships and fellowships from their program. These awards are made at the time of admission.

All master's students are eligible for consideration for any scholarship/fellowship, specific to their program of study, unless the scholarship/fellowship's description specifically states otherwise. Students are awarded scholarships/fellowships as part of the admissions process and are notified of the award amount, if any, in the letter of admission. Students are not reconsidered for additional scholarship/fellowships after matriculation.

You may want to consider researching additional ways of financing your education.  Here are some useful resources to get started:

• External Fellowships and Scholarships - a great starting point for conducting a scholarship search
• CMU's Fellowships and Scholarships Office (FSO) - A vast number of external scholarships, fellowships, and educational opportunities are listed here

Common external Scholarships for international students to consider

• Fulbright Scholars
• Anne Wexler Master's Scholarships in Public Policy
• COLFUTURO
• CONACYT
• FUNED
• GuateFuturo
• HonduFuturo

Students are eligible to apply for on-campus jobs once they arrive on campus for their first semester of study. A variety of opportunities are available on campus. It is not necessary to apply for employment prior to arriving on campus. The following are brief descriptions of a few of the types of positions an international student may apply for on campus:        

TEACHING ASSISTANTS (TA)

• Students may apply for TA positions for their final two semesters.
• TAs aid instructors by grading homework and exams, conducting review sessions and tutoring.
• TAs are paid hourly, $15 per hour and work approximately 10 hours per week. TAs are not awarded any tuition waivers.
• Both university policy and PA law require that all students who are nonnative English speakers must pass a screening test before they can work as TA's. For more information, please visit: http://www.cmu.edu/icc/testing/ITA/who_needs.shtml 

RESEARCH ASSISTANTS (RA)

• Students may apply for RA positions once they have enrolled as full-time students in their program of study at Heinz.
• RAs assist faculty in their reseach.
• RAs are paid hourly, $15 per hour and work approximately 10 hours per week. RAs are not awarded any tuition waivers.

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

• International students are not eligible for work-study awards. However, short-term projects occasionally arise that provide international students with the opportunity to earn money during a semester.

federal community service work study (FCSWS): off-campus jobs

FCSWS is a federally subsidized work program which provides eligible students the opportunity to work for an eligible public, government or 501(c) 3 non-profit organization whose mission and work benefit the community and enables the student to earn money to help cover education-related expenses. In most cases, the salary is $15 per hour with the federal government providing 70% of the salary and the qualifying employer paying the 30% "non-federal share" of the hourly wage. Most Heinz students can earn up to $5,000 per academic year and an additional $6,000 over the summer.

Private education loans (also called alternative or non-federal education loans) may be available to students who do not qualify for federal loans, such as international students. International students are required to have a credit worthy cosigner who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident of the U.S.

The interest rates on private education loans may be variable or fixed and the credit requirements, loan terms, loan fees, applicable grace period, application requirements, in-school payment requirements, etc. vary from lender to lender. Eligible borrowers are always encouraged to review and understand the loan terms and compare those terms among a few different lenders when selecting the best option for their individual borrowing needs.

The maximum eligibility for private education loans is the average cost of attendance less financial aid from all sources. Individual lenders may have additional limits on the amount of alternative education loans that a student may borrow.

Students may choose any private education loan lender they wish. Students who need help in selecting a lender may refer to our Private Lender List. Our list includes only those lenders who disbursed loans to Carnegie Mellon University on behalf of a Heinz College student in any of the past 5 years.

The Students Account Office of the Division of Enrollment Services manages the student billing and payment process. For details on invoicing, payment options, and tuition deadlines, please visit the CMU Billing and Payments website.

Sponsors are outside parties, such as embassies, companies, and community agencies, that pay CMU directly for a student's educational expenses, with funds that did not originate with the student. There are two steps in our sponsored billing process, and these steps must be completed no later than one week before the start of classes. To complete these two steps and ensure your billing is processed correctly, visit CMU's Sponsored Student Billing page.

CMU's Tuition Payment Plan allows students to pay amounts due to the university in manageable monthly installments and provides the convenience of enrolling and making payments online through Tuition Management Systems (TMS). Annual and semester plans are available for a low enrollment fee.

Students can enroll online at https://cmu.afford.com/. For more information, visit The HUB website. For plan inquiries and assistance, call 888-216-4269.