Welcome to Peabody College!

Scholarships and Merit Aid

If you were awarded a merit scholarship at the time of admission, this information will be included in your letter of admission. In some cases, you may receive additional information about grant or research funding from your academic department after admission. If this is the case, it will be indicated in your letter of admission and you can direct questions to your academic department’s Admissions Coordinator.

In addition to merit-based scholarships and research or grant funding, there are a variety of employment positions available to Peabody students that may help you to fund your education. We provide more information on these in the Employment Opportunities section of this webpage. Please note that none of our professional programs guarantee an assistantship, but many Peabody students secure positions across Peabody and Vanderbilt University.

External Scholarships
You may be looking for additional external ways to finance your Peabody degree. We encourage you to utilize fastweb.com as a starting place to find available scholarships.

Federal Financial Aid

U.S. citizens and permanent residents are eligible to apply for federal financial aid. International students who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents can apply for a private educational loan only with the assistance of a U.S. citizen or permanent resident as co-signer.

Our Financial Aid staff work diligently to get your financial aid award to you as soon as possible after your admission letter has been released. If you have already submitted your FAFSA, you should keep an eye on your email for notification of your financial aid award and how to access it. If you have not yet submitted the FAFSA, please consult the information below.

FAFSA
If you are a US Citizen or permanent resident and have not yet completed your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) you should do so as soon as possible. Even if you’re not sure if you will qualify for any aid, we encourage you to submit the form to find out.

You can submit your FAFSA using studentaid.gov. Vanderbilt’s FAFSA code is 003535.

Students admitted for a Summer 2025 program should complete a FAFSA for the 2024-2025 academic year and the 2025-2026 academic year. Fall 2025 admits should complete a FAFSA for the 2025-2026 academic year.

Types of Federal Aid
Federal financial aid includes federal student loans and federal work-study.

Tuition and Fees

You can view the current academic year’s tuition and fees costs on our website. An estimation of your tuition and fees for the 2025-26 academic year will be included in your financial aid award.

Contact

Samantha Burnett, Director of Peabody Financial Aid
Peabody.financialaid@vanderbilt.edu

Welcome to Peabody College! We’re so excited that you’ll be joining our vibrant community of international students, which currently account for 20% of our professional student population!

We know the transition to Nashville and Peabody can be daunting, and we wanted to provide a few beginning resources for you as you start to make plans and consider your options for graduate school.

Our International Students  webpage will give you a great look into all of the available supports for you as an international student at Peabody. This overview and timeline from Vanderbilt’s International Student & Scholar Services office may also help you to prepare for your transition to Peabody.

As a reminder, all students who've completed their degree at an international institution are required to submit a transcript evaluation prior to enrolling in courses. There are several approved agencies that you can use to complete this process. A new partnership between Vanderbilt University and International Education Evaluation (IEE) provides a discounted way to complete this task. You can find more information from the University Registrar at this link.

For any questions or concerns, please reach out to Yu (Wendy) Wu, Assistant Director of Peabody Student Life by email at yu.wu.2@vanderbilt.edu. 

Finally, we want to provide you with contact information for the staff member in International Student & Scholar Services who works directly with Peabody international students, especially as it pertains to visas: 

Andrea Pietrzyk, Assistant Director of International Student & Scholar Services
andrea.h.pietrzyk@vanderbilt.edu

There are a number of ways to secure employment during your time at Peabody. We recommend focusing on roles with Peabody, Vanderbilt, or those that your Program Director or Admissions Coordinator may send to you, as those employers prioritize students and are likely to be most flexible with your course schedule and academic commitments.

There are a number of different positions available to students, with a variety of payment styles. Some may include partial tuition benefit, hourly wages, or a stipend, or some combination of the three. Roles may include Graduate Assistantships, Graduate Student Worker positions, Teaching Assistantships, or Research Assistantships. While many Peabody students work during their time on campus, we do not guarantee a student position. 

It's also important to know that with budget approval timelines, sometimes positions open and are posted in the late spring and summer months. We encourage you to bookmark and regularly check the Peabody Job Board for the most up-to-date listings. Enrolled students will also receive access to HireADore in July, to view available positions across Vanderbilt’s campus, some of which may preference students who have been awarded Federal Work Study as part of their financial aid award. We’ve included valuable links about employment below, including our Guide to Student Employment, which may help clarify things for you!

Guide to Student Employment

Peabody Job Board

HireADore

VU Office of the Provost Graduate Assistantships

Each year, the Office of the Provost conducts their own Graduate Assistant application process for available Graduate Assistant (GA) and Graduate Area Coordinator (GAC) roles. This year, they have 14 positions available. Please note that these are just some of the many positions available to incoming Peabody students. These roles, however, are centrally handled by the Office of the Provost and the Dean of Students Office, and as such, their application process is managed by staff of those offices, and occurs much earlier than many of the other available positions at Peabody or across Vanderbilt.

To learn more about the process, you should visit their website. Each of their open positions will also be listed on the Peabody Job Board. These positions are available to all admitted Peabody students - both domestic and international. Their applications open on Thursday, February 6 and the priority deadline to apply is Tuesday, February 25.

Additionally, they use a platform to submit application materials that may request you to have Vanderbilt login credentials. Not to worry! There is a process by which you can create an account in this platform using your mobile phone number. If you have any issues setting up an account, you should reach out to the Office of the Provost staff directly by email at studentaffairsassistantships@vanderbilt.edu. 

Finally, their staff have recorded a webinar that helps you to understand more about the available positions and the application process. We encourage you to view it before submitting your applications. It's linked here for you. 

Additional Information

Please note: The College does not want students to be overly burdened with on-campus work hours, which could negatively affect their wellness, as they are to be primarily focused on their studies. Therefore, professional students employed on any non-sponsored funding source (any net asset class besides 15 (grants and contracts)) at the College should work no more than 20 hours per week if they are enrolled in nine credit hours or more in the fall or spring semesters or six or more credit hours in the summer.

Although the University does permit students to work up to 29.5 hours per week, professional students may not be employed for more than 20 hours per week if any non-sponsored funding sources (any net asset class besides 15 (grants and contracts)) are used. Requests for exceptions must be approved by the program director and the Dean.

We know that securing housing can be a both challenging and confusing part of your transition to Peabody. Here we've listed a number of resources available to support your move to Music City!

Peabody Resources

We've surveyed our current students about their housing experiences to help guide you in your housing search. View our Peabody Student Housing Guide.

Vanderbilt University Resources

The Vanderbilt University Off-Campus Housing Service helps Vanderbilt students, faculty and staff locate off-campus housing opportunities. Houses and apartments advertised here are listed by landlords interested in renting specifically to members of the Vanderbilt community. Vanderbilt students looking for roommates may also post ads here. 

Broadview at Vanderbilt

The Broadview at Vanderbilt is the newest housing option specifically for graduate and professional students at Vanderbilt. It opened in the fall of 2023. Located just steps from the Vanderbilt University campus in the heart of midtown Nashville, The Broadview at Vanderbilt invites graduate and professional students into a community of collaboration and elevated living space. The Broadview at Vanderbilt offers studio, one- and two-bedroom apartment homes with features such as a fully-equipped kitchen with granite countertops, upgraded appliances, hardwood-inspired floors, and washer/dryer. The Broadview at Vanderbilt also has great on-site amenities, from a 24-hour fitness and wellness center, an on-site coffee shop and grocery store, multiple collaboration and study spaces, to an outdoor BBQ area and media room.

View The Broadview at Vanderbilt information booklet.

Follow the links below to learn more about the co-curricular support offered to you as a Peabody student.

Peabody Office of Academic Services

Peabody Career Services

Peabody Office of Student Life