Juilliard Aims to Go Tuition-Free with $550 Million Fundraiser
The Juilliard School on Thursday announced a major affordability initiative: a $550 million fundraising campaign that aims to eliminate tuition for all of its college students.
The Juilliard School in New York City. Image courtesy of The Juilliard School.
Long recognized as a world leader in performing arts education, The Juilliard School was founded in 1905 and is currently located at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Juilliard said in a statement that the fundraising campaign already had $180 million in early commitments, including a collective pledge of $130 million from Juilliard’s Board of Trustees.
"Financial barriers cannot be the determining factor in accessing Juilliard’s transformative education," said Juilliard’s president, Damian Woetzel. "This campaign is all about matching extraordinary talent with extraordinary opportunity."
Juilliard did not project a specific date for going tuition-free; stating that the timing will depend on achieving fundraising milestones. Juilliard plans to increase the number of tuition-free students each year on a rolling basis, starting in fall 2025.
Juilliard tuition for 2025-26 is $55,500, with an estimated cost of attendance of $88,772. More than 95 percent of current college students at Juilliard receive some level of scholarship support.
"This campaign represents a defining moment for Juilliard and for the future of the performing arts," said Vincent Mai, the chair of Juilliard’s Board of Trustees. "The board’s collective pledge of $130 million reflects our shared belief that financial barriers should never stand in the way of exceptional talent. By making this commitment, we are reaffirming Juilliard’s role as a global leader in access, excellence, and artistic innovation."
Juilliard already has a number of tuition-free and fully funded programs, including the Drama Division’s Master of Fine Arts in Acting; the Artist Diplomas in jazz, music performance, opera studies, playwriting, and string quartet studies; Doctor of Musical Arts; and Historical Performance. The Music Advancement Program (MAP), which serves students ages 8–17 from the New York area and is part of the Preparatory Division, is also tuition-free.
Other music schools that currently operate on a tuition-free model include the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, which has been tuition-free since 1928; the Colburn Conservatory of Music, which has been tuition-free since its founding in 2003 and also includes room and board; and the Yale School of Music in New Haven, Ct., which went tuition-free in 2006 thanks to a gift from Stephen and Denise Adams.
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Replies
Yes, Steve, why do you ask?
That's great news. I should take in a concert or a play there the next time I visit NYC.
Laurie - free tuition is great but in my lexicon "tuition-free" sounds like gluten-free, emission-free, fancy-free - no more lessons!
You keep your grimy hands off our language Steve. Pretty soon "English" will be called "American" instead. LOL
I know that "no fees" sounds very groovy but why not ask something from families that can afford it? They're just leaving money on the table.
The progressive approach for state universities is to raise tuition -- a lot -- and then give more financial aid to those less fortunate.
This would make them more competitive with Curtis and Colburn. Only a limited number of kids get to go for free now on fellowships.
Note though that this is still not free, it says there is a $33K per year ($132K for the four year degree) difference between the tuition amount and the cost of attendance, am guessing that is mostly room and board. I want to remember that I read here a few years ago that's covered at Curtis and Colburn, and is a lot of money, way more than in-state cost of attendance here at UNC-CH and NCSU.
Steve, yes the North American English definition for "tuition" is "a sum of money charged for teaching or instruction by a school, college, or university."
But I see how it sounds a bit odd if your primary definition of the word is "teaching or instruction, especially of individual pupils or small groups" (as it is, across the pond...) They don't plan to eliminate teaching and instruction!
Ah right, I didn't know that. I hope British music colleges are aware of the distinction and being careful with the wording of their web sites. The Guildhall School mentions the "cost of tuition" which I guess is tautological in 'merkin.
Thank goodness we can still agree on A 440 on both sides of the Atlantic!
No Richard, A=415.
There are times when I agree, Will.
It has crept up to 441 and 442 here on the West Coast.
Stan, Colburn is the only top tier school that automatically covers living expenses in addition to tuition. It's about an $80K package per student.
Curtis covers tuition only and provides support for living expenses based on family income. The total per year for housing, meals, and fees is about $20K without financial assistance, so significantly less than the amounted Juilliard is quoting. But housing in NY is $$$so that may be an accurate amount for NY.
Juilliard does have some scholarships that include room and board as well -- these are offered to a very small number of their highest level players.
Yes, it looks like Colburn is also tuition-free: https://colburnschool.edu/conservatory/cost-financial-aid/
That is exactly my point; as described there, Colburn is not only tuition-free, scholarships and grants also cover room and board, so the estimated cost of attendance is $11200. Whereas once Juilliard is able to cover tuition for everyone, the estimated cost of attendance will still be $33200 annually (based on this years costs), so not entirely free.
(Looks like Curtis is showing this estimate as $24-27K; I think I read here a few years ago there were efforts to make grants available for the remainder for everyone, but I am either not remembering correctly or this hasn't been worked out yet.)
Regarding "A440", i do not think that at any time during recent decades there was a full agreement about this on either one (or both) of the two sides of the Atlantic. Most major orchestras have been tuning slightly (or in some cases considerably) higher than that since the middle of the last century.
You are absolutely right Mark. I was trying to suggest that the idea that English and American are different languages is not ok.
Certainly, A varies from one group to another, maybe from piano to piano, but 440 as a reference point stands. Perhaps we should think of 438, 442 and 445 as different accents within the language of music, and 415 as a dialect.
There is no particular reason for 440 (or any other number for that matter) to remain "a reference point" when all kinds of different pitches are being used for tuning by so many if not most professional musicians all over the world for nearly a century now.
I see your point Mark, but I'm wondering whether the answer lies with the human voice, and I think 440 IS a kind of reference. If we set A at 470, sopranos and tenors won't be able to do their stuff, and would our string instruments stand the pressure? If we drop it to 410, basses begin to struggle with low notes. That said, I'm supposing a lot here, and should back out and investigate the history of A!
Edited to add that I hope Juilliard's plans work out.
Human voice has nothing to do with it: if top or bottom notes are out of reach, transpose it into a different key and sing your heart out - this has been done with operatic arias and various art songs for centuries. As for our instruments, we already know that down to 415 and up to 445 (just to use your own numbers) works fine, but if a little bit beyond those frequencies is needed, the string makers should be able to adjust their measurements.
Oh!
If we could move from 415 (or thereabout) to 440 and since so many of us have not really stopped there, who knows where we might be a century from now? All we do know for sure is that there is nothing "holy" about 440 and that it is just as random a number as any other.
I see. For more information, look up on Google:
Lynn Cavanagh: A brief history of the establishment of international standard pitch a=440 hertz
Regarding A=440: In fact, the human voice does have something to do with this. It's true that singers have long transposed art songs and operatic arias to suit their voices. I've heard, for instance, recordings of the late Renata Tebaldi doing this. At the same time, though, Tebaldi had it written into her contract that the orchestral tuning was to be no higher than 440. Singers don't like having their instruments forced higher and higher. I'm quite sure I'm not the only string player who doesn't like stretching the strings tighter and tighter.
Having so-called perfect pitch, I can tolerate up to 442 - it still sounds like A to me; but I don't like to go below 440. From experience, I know that having a consistent reference point - 440 in my case - helps my fiddles stay in tune here in the hot, humid summers of the American Southeast.
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April 27, 2025 at 09:21 PM · "..aims to eliminate tuition for all of its college students". Err..is that what you meant to say Laurie?