It all begins with a love of music and the desire to go to college.

Music is, and should be, a way for families to both access and afford a quality postsecondary education.

The mission of CommonTime Education is to change the economic and educational landscape for young musicians in two very critical ways:

1. Fundraising to support scholarship awards for musicians seeking further musical ensemble experience in a higher education setting.

2. Development of world-class content to empower young musicians to navigate the college search, scholarship, auditions, and admissions processes as well as career pathways.

  • THE CONCEPT

    Paying for college is more difficult than ever before.  While athletics is a well established and publicized avenue to pay for college, MUSIC is a lesser known yet even more available and accessible pathway to preferential admissions and scholarships.

    An impressive sum of approximately three billion dollars was awarded to D1 and D2 athletes last season, yet performing arts-related scholarships for majors and non-majors reached an estimated FIVE billion dollars in the same year. 

    CommonTime Education is here to disseminate information about those scholarships in a searchable and filterable database in addition to providing its own scholarship fund to support the education of college musicians.

    THE VISION

    Athletes have always had myriad opportunities and affordable options to access the network of scouts, recruiters, and scholarships from colleges while musicians have been stuck hoping to connect with a professor at highly competitive festivals or expensive summer camps.  

    CommonTime Education is an opportunity for skilled young musicians to fund their musical and educational goals in whichever direction their passion leads them.

  • CommonTime Education aims to give a maximum of $10,000 to a minimum of ten individual applicants annually to pursue music ensemble experiences in higher education.

    Applicants must meet the following criteria to receive an award and for their future higher education institution to receive funds from CommonTime Education.

    1) Have an active and up-to-date free recruiting account on CommonTime Pathways

    2) Have a posted video of their solo performance on their recruiting profile

    3) Demonstrate that their gross household income does not exceed $300,000 annually through submission of a 1040

    4) Write an essay of no more than 500 words on CommonTime Pathways answering the prompt: How do you see yourself as a musician in 5-10 years?

    5) Once awarded, funds will only be released directly to the student’s higher education institution upon review of a transcript showing a completed for-credit ensemble music class within 18 months of the award.

Through a deep connection to CommonTime Pathways, our students demonstrate musical excellence and the initiative to find musical opportunities to access a college education.

Visit CommonTime Pathways

Make an impact today

by changing the life of a young musician
and their family.

CommonTime Education is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization as defined under section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code.
(Status Under Review)

3% Cover the Fee

To avoid fees, donors may write checks to "CommonTime Education" and send to 867 Boylston Street Fifth Floor 232 Boston, MA 02116 USA CommonTime Education is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization as defined under section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code. (Status Under Review)