Partner Pathways Full-Tuition Scholarship

To formalize participation, ACM-IAU requests that partner institutions complete a simple memorandum of agreement (MOA). 

For more information on creating a partnership, please contact Kurt Schick, Vice President of U.S. Operations at kurt.schick@iau.edu.

The Partner Pathways scholarship covers tuition costs only and includes tuition for fall semester, January Term (see below), spring semester, and summer term (if required). For the Fall 2026 cycle, the amount of the scholarship totals $41,200 for one-year programs and $66,000 for the 2-year MFA program.

Students are responsible for ACM housing costs for the duration of the program for 1-year programs and for the first academic year for the 2-Year MFA. along with student life fees. Additional expenses include visa fees, international airfare and travel, food/meal costs, and personal expenses. The additional out-of-pocket costs can range from approximately $10,000-$18,750 per year. See below for more information on housing requirements.

Partner institutions typically vet and nominate students for the Partner Pathways program. This approach may not work for all institutions. Therefore, partners may create their own application which interested students would complete concurrently with ACM’s application. Or the partner can simply send ACM the names and email addresses of the students they have chosen. With 10 available full-tuition scholarship slots, partners may nominate up to 15 students to the program given potential attrition. If over 10 students commit to the program by paying their enrollment deposit, ACM will allow the overage.

ACM created flexibility with the Partner Pathway Scholarship Program so that partner institutions could manage it in a way that best suits their needs, student population, student demographic, institutional resources, and goals. For that reason, and to encourage equity, ACM has not placed GPA thresholds nor any other academic requirements in place for the scholarship. The qualifications are typically tied to students meeting ACM’s admissions requirements plus any vetting process at the partner institution. At the same time, and to better manage student interest and internal resources, partner institutions can consider its own criteria for its internal application, including those tied to academic success and/or financial need. They can restrict their pool to students who never studied abroad as undergraduates, or could focus on a select few of ACM’s graduate programs, working more closely with the partner institution’s relevant academic departments (eg: modern languages department => MA in French Studies, art department => MA in art history and MFA, etc).

Interested students can begin the ACM graduate program application at any time, keeping in mind the following deadlines:

Deadlines:

• December 19, 2025: Partner submits list of nominated students to ACM
• January 7, 2026: ACM application deadline
• *January 14, 2026: ACM announces full-tuition scholarship recipients
• March 19, 2026: Enrollment deposit deadline.

*Cost Breakdown at time of admission: Once a student is admitted, they will also receive a financial aid offer letter detailing all expected out-of-pocket costs and scholarship benefits.

All Pathway Program students must live in  ACM housing for the duration of their program for 1-year programs and for the first academic year for the 2-year MFA program. More information on program housing can be found at acmfrance.org/studentlife/housing.

No. Since students qualify for a full-tuition scholarship, they are not eligible for additional aid nor can they "stack" other ACM scholarships, grants, or need-based aid.

ACM takes advantage of the intersession between fall and spring semesters to embed a short-term traveling seminar in all of its programs. J-Term is required of all graduate students. Some programs have required J-Term tracks while others allow students to choose between several adviser-approved options. 

Learn more about the J-Term programs offered. 

Yes. All programs include paid field study trips (some overnight) as well as other excursions, events, and activities covered by the student life fees, including health insurance. 

Partner institutions can manage/oversee program promotion to its students but can also reach out to ACM for any support.