Carnegie Mellon University is an excellent university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Currently, over 6,000 undergraduate students and 7,300 graduate students are attending this institution. These students study in various programs and departments at Carnegie Mellon including Engineering, Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities. In this article, we will be covering scholarships at Carnegie Mellon University so that you can financially afford to attend this excellent university.
Countless students have graduated from this university since its establishment in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie. These alumni have accomplished great things partially because of the excellent education that they have received at the institution.
Famous alumni include John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics who is the subject of the movie Beautiful Mind; John Hall, a Nobel Laureate in Physics; Alan Perlis, a pioneer of programming languages and winner of Turing Award; and Charles Wilson, Former CEO and President of General Motors. These alumni are just a handful of many famous alumni of Carnegie Mellon University.
So, you know that Carnegie Mellon offers fantastic education for its students. Like the above alumni, many of its graduates have been successful, and some have been employed in prestigious companies in Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Now, let’s talk about the cost of attending this institution.
Carnegie Mellon University Cost of Attendance
Because the university is private, the cost of attendance is the same for students from Pennsylvania and students from other states. The total cost of attendance is approximately $75,000 a year, and that includes approximately $55,000 in tuition, $15,000 in room and board, and $2,500 in books and expenses. So, it does take a lot of money to pay the ticket price of Carnegie Mellon education, but the actual price is much cheaper due to Carnegie Mellon scholarships.
So, let’s talk about scholarships!
Carnegie Mellon Scholarships
There are many scholarships that are available at Carnegie Mellon University. The way that Carnegie Mellon awards scholarships is through need-based grants and aid. They do not give any awards based on merit, which is based on your academic achievements. Since you have to be a stellar student to get accepted into Carnegie Mellon anyways, they feel no need to compare excellent students. This is the same way that Ivy League Schools give scholarships to its students.
The best thing about Carnegie Mellon Scholarships is that these money do not need to be repaid. This is not the case with loans, which will be discussed in the next section. When you get your financial aid package, if you see that you are awarded with mostly grants and scholarships, that is a good thing because you don’t have to repay the university.
Loans
Carnegie Mellon does award loans as part of the financial aid. These include Federal Loans, Loans through Carnegie Mellon, and Private Loans. First, if you are awarded in your financial package with a loan, then I highly recommend that you don’t accept it if you do not need the loan to cover the cost of attendance.
If you do need loans, I highly recommend that you accept the lowest amount possible to cover your cost of attendance. You need to accept the federal loans first because they are subsidized, which means there’s no interest until a few months after you graduate. This does not seem like a big deal, but accruing interest four years later makes a huge difference in how much you will pay.
After you’ve accepted the federal loans, if you still need more money to cover your cost of attendance, then you should accept the university loans. This is also subsidized like federal loans but might have a higher interest rate. After that, you should accept the private loans that are subsidized, so that you pay less money for interest.
Your last resort should be private, unsubsidized loans, which you should avoid in all possibilities. If you have to take private, unsubsidized loans, you should look at other universities that give better financial aid packages to your family.
Once you have the money to repay the loans, you need to repay the unsubsidized private loans first, then private loans second. After paying your private loans, you should pay loans that have higher interest rates first.
How to Apply for Financial Aid at Carnegie Mellon University
Now, let’s discuss how to apply for financial aid at Carnegie Mellon University. You need to submit two documents, which are CSS Profile and FAFSA to the university. These documents ask you about financial information about your families such as family income and assets. With this information, Carnegie Mellon University will determine how much scholarships and financial aid that you’ll receive. Then, you will need to submit documents that prove the answers that you’ve provided in those documents.
Financial Aid Deadlines
The deadline to submit the financial documents is February 15. However, I suggest that you submit these much earlier in advance so that you won’t get rushed during busy application times!
Frequently Asked Questions about Financial Aid at Carnegie Mellon
There are many questions that parents and prospective students ask about financial aid at Carnegie Mellon. If you do have any questions or just simply want more information, you can see the FAQ Page. This page provides much information about financial aid.
Net Price Calculator
If you want to know approximately how much your family will pay, you can use the Net Price Calculator. This tool will provide a rough estimate of how much you will pay for your education at Carnegie Mellon University. If you want a ballpark estimate, you should use this tool!
I hope that this article on Carnegie Mellon University scholarships and financial aid page was helpful. If you are interested, I highly recommend that you visit the Pennsylvania University Scholarships if you are from Pennsylvania. If you are not, I highly recommend going to Authority Scholarships Website and see the scholarships available in your state. Universities in your state will most likely be affordable to your family, so this won’t be a waste of your time!
