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Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Dear Members of the Â鶹´å Community,

I am pleased to announce a transformative milestone in Â鶹´å’s ongoing access and affordability efforts. Following a significant expansion of financial aid, undergraduates whose families earn less than $75,000 annually will be able to attend Â鶹´å tuition-free, while undergraduates whose families earn less than $100,000 annually will be able to attend Â鶹´å without borrowing any federal student loans.

Carnegie Mellon will officially launch this initiative — known as the Â鶹´å Pathway Program — at the start of the 2025-2026 academic year.

Students who qualify for the Â鶹´å Pathway Program fit the following profile:

• have typical family assets and an annual family income that falls below the income thresholds for a tuition-free ($75,000) and federal loan-free ($100,000) Â鶹´å education;
• are a new or returning undergraduate enrolled at our Pittsburgh campus; and
• are a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident of the United States.

The Â鶹´å Pathway Program is one of several access and affordability efforts that Carnegie Mellon has implemented in recent years with the goal of ensuring that deserving, talented and high-achieving students have a pathway to affording and attending Â鶹´å for their undergraduate journey — regardless of their socioeconomic background or family resources.

In addition to launching this new program, Carnegie Mellon has already achieved the following:

• Bolstered our investment in undergraduate financial aid by more than 86% in the last 10 years — from $76 million in fiscal year 2015 to $141 million in fiscal year 2024.
• Met and have continued to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need for all undergraduate students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents, regardless of their family income.
• Reduced the share of students borrowing federal loans from 52% in 2019 to 28% in 2024 and cut their total debt burden at graduation by nearly 30%, from $25,936 per student to $18,200 per student, in that same five-year span.
• Launched other targeted access and affordability initiatives— the Tartan Scholars program for undergraduate students and the Â鶹´å Rales Fellows program for graduate-level STEM students — aimed at removing financial barriers for high-achieving students. Both programs pair institutional financial aid with an array of customized mentoring, networking and academic support.

I am grateful to our academic and administrative leadership — especially Provost and Chief Academic Officer Jim Garrett and Chief Financial Officer Angela Blanton — for realizing these milestones on behalf of our students. It is worth repeating that our institutional commitment to enhancing access and affordability extends to students from all backgrounds, and I look forward to advancing this important work together.

I invite you to learn more about our suite of access and affordability initiatives — and read about the Â鶹´å Pathway Program in greater detail — on our Student Financial Services website.

Sincerely,

Farnam Jahanian
President
Henry L. Hillman President’s Chair