We consider the totality of a student’s potential contribution to the School of Music in our admission and scholarship decisions through a broad range of criteria including:  academics, diversity, leadership, performance, and teaching potential.

University Scholarships and Financial Aid 

If you apply for financial aid through the University, you will learn about University scholarships and grants. Music scholarships, awarded by the School of Music and independent of University financial aid, are also available to talented freshmen and transfer students, based primarily on performance ability. Past musical achievement and academic success are also considered in this process.

Note specific deadlines: 

Dec. 1: Scholarship deadline for first-time students

Jan. 7: Scholarship deadline for continuing and transfer students

Jan. 7: MU priority deadline for receipt of FAFSA 

Do I Qualify for Financial Aid?

School of Music Scholarships 

Music scholarships are primarily directed at talented music and music education majors, but we do have a very small number of non-major scholarships awarded to highly talented performers, especially in underrepresented instrument/voice areas in our ensembles.  Scholarship awards are based on a performance audition at a Mizzou Music Day.  Please email musicadmissions@missouri.edu if you have questions about auditions or sign up now to register for an audition.  In order to maintain a scholarship from year to year, students must maintain a 2.75 GPA, not receive any grade below a C- in a music class and be a student in good standing with the University. Additional requirements to maintain a scholarship will be included in the initial or updated scholarship letter.

Scholarship Appeal Process 

Our scholarships are automatically renewable for up to four years total if the parameters of the original scholarship letter are kept (grade point, no low grades, good standing, etc).  If a student will be adding a fifth year to their university experience or has lost their scholarship for any reason, they can submit a Scholarship Appeal Request Form or contact the Scholarship Coordinator, Natalie Parker. For a scholarship extension or update request, this needs to happen a full semester before the scholarship would be renewed.  Submitted appeals will be sent to the larger scholarship compliance committee for a decision after checking the necessary parameters.  The student will be notified of the decision by email by the Scholarship Coordinator.  This process usually takes 1-2 weeks for all the communication to be completed, sometimes longer during heavy event periods during the school year.  Fifth year appeals will be discussed after May 1.

Undergraduate Composition Scholarships 

The Mizzou New Music Initiative offers two highly competitive full-tuition scholarships in Composition for entering freshmen seeking a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition. 

Composition scholarship recipients will benefit from: 

• Working with distinguished composition faculty members Stefan Freund and Utku Asuroglu; 
• An established composition program that regularly produces national competition winners and places students in top graduate school programs; 
• Opportunities to work with: 
  • The Mizzou New Music Ensemble, dedicated to performing works by student composers; 
  • The MU School of Music faculty on Sinquefield Student Commissioning Projects; 
  • St. Louis-area musicians, as part of the Sheldon Commissions program in St. Louis, MO; 
  • Visiting ensembles and performers. 

This scholarship program is directed at students composing acoustic, electronic, and electroacoustic music. Such music may take the form of solo pieces, pieces accompanied by piano, chamber music, works for larger ensembles such as bands or orchestras, or works for electronic media. We understand that in today’s pluralistic musical world that such music may be influenced by a variety of musical styles, ranging from classical to popular.

Each applicant to the Composition program is considered for a full-tuition scholarship as long as they have submitted a composition portfolio and completed an interview with the Composition faculty before posted scholarship deadlines.