Undergraduate financial aid and scholarships

All prospective undergraduate music majors are considered for scholarships at the time of the audition. 

The School of Music offers numerous competitive scholarships to those who demonstrate exceptional talent in their chosen area. These awards are determined by audition and are renewable for four years if students meet specific academic and performance criteria. Scholarships are funded by the University of Iowa and School of Music donors.

In order to retain a School of Music scholarship students must:

1. Be a full-time (12 s.h. or more each semester) music major making appropriate progress toward the degree. 
2. Be registered for applied music lessons in your respective studio area. 
3. Participate in the designated School of Music major ensemble 
4. Maintain a GPA of at least 2.2 overall, 2.5 in music courses, and 3.0 in the major applied music courses. Renewal reviews are done at the end of each semester.

Scholarships are renewable for up to four years (excluding summer semesters) or until you receive your degree (whichever comes first). Scholarships are available up to a 9th semester for music therapy and music education students for their student teaching and internship placements.

Current undergraduate students may also be considered for scholarship by completing a scholarship audition during the audition season to start for the following academic year. 

The University of Iowa offers a wide variety of financial awards. More information on application procedures, deadlines, and available financial aid including scholarships, grants, loans and the College Work-Study program is available on the Office of Student Financial Aid (OSFA) website or by emailing financial-aid@uiowa.edu or calling 319-335-1450. Students must be admitted to The University of Iowa to receive consideration for financial aid.

Iowa Center for the Arts

The Iowa Center for the Arts (ICA) Scholarship is awarded to returning music majors (current freshmen, sophomores, and juniors) who demonstrate exceptional talent in their chosen area. Students are considered for this scholarship through the ICA Competition, which is held each Spring. The competition consists of three rounds. 

(1) Preliminary Round: Each studio in the School of Music can nominate up to two student competitors. The area heads will accept the nominations from the studios and organize the details for the Semifinal Round. 

(2) Semifinal Round. Semifinal Round: Each area (brass, woodwinds, percussion, jazz, keyboards, strings, voice) will organize their own Semi-Final Rounds, which will consist of a live recital format closed to the public and adjudicated by the members of the area. Each nominee should select a movement or excerpt from a movement no longer than 8 minutes in duration. The area faculty will vote to determine the winner immediately following the recital and the winners for each area will be announced by 5:00 p.m. Friday before spring break. The winning candidate from each area will receive $1,000 and automatically advance to the final round.

 (3) Final Round. This round will occur in a recital format in mid-April and will be adjudicated by a panel of two internal and three external judges. In addition to the $1,000 award from the semi-final round, the following awards will be given to the top three finalists. The award amounts are:

a. First place: $4000

b. Second place: $2000

c. Third place: $1000

The ICA competition is only open to returning undergraduate music majors in the School of Music. Winners of previous ICA competitions are not eligible to compete again. All awards are one-time, non-renewable scholarship awards. Musical selections may include movements of concertos, sonatas, or other genres. They can be unaccompanied, accompanied, or with a rhythm section in the case of the jazz finalist. The School of Music will provide funding for accompanists for the final round.

Questions about the annual ICA Scholarship Competition can be directed to Prof. John Manning (School of Music Director of Undergraduate Studies).