Payment and Financial Aid

• Payment Methods
• Loans
• Grants

We accept payments via credit card, wire transfer, Western Union, and (when available) bank loan. We also allow you to split your payment across two separate credit card transactions or send a payment link email to another person on your behalf. Please note that we do not provide refunds for the purpose of changing your payment method. If splitting your payment into two transactions, a minimum payment of $350 is required for the first transaction.

In all cases, net Program Fees* must be paid in full (in U.S. Dollars) prior to your course’s enrollment deadline.

At this time, Harvard Business School Online cannot accept:

• Checks
• Veterans Affairs Benefits (please see our Grants section for details on military grants)
• Awards or payments from organizations that would arrive after the course's enrollment deadline. If an award or payment is only provided upon course completion, you may not use it to pay for an HBS Online course, unless the award directly reimburses you.
• Federal financial aid, except for eligible participants enrolled in the undergraduate credit option of CORe. Please see our CORe Undergraduate Credit page for details.

We're happy to provide our tax ID and bank account information to facilitate payments from organizations sponsoring your enrollment. However, we cannot provide specialized information or complete paperwork as part of a vendor setup process for individual payments.

*Please note: Program Fees do not include international taxes.

Below is a list of lenders who have indicated they are willing to provide loans to HBS Online program participants. The contact information is provided as a service and not as an endorsement of the lender or an indication of any affiliation with these providers. You may choose one of these, or any other lender of your choice. Each lender will have its own eligibility criteria, lending requirements, and minimum loan amounts.

If you wish to pay for your program with a loan, the loan must be approved, certified, and disbursed prior to starting the program. Please note that it takes 10 business days for a loan to disburse once it's been certified, so apply early if you intend to use this option to enroll in your course.

For those enrolling in the CLIMB cohort starting October 1, 2025,  CLIMB learners may apply for a loan through Sallie Mae, and HBS Online can certify the loan for up to $15,000. That includes disbursements of $3,750 that will automatically be applied to enrollment in the next term during that term’s enrollment period. Term enrollments must be complete before loans can be applied, and participants must enroll in each term consecutively to utilize the full loan amount. Sallie Mae disbursements are made 10 business days before the term start date, and all loan disbursements must be within the 365-day loan period.

For the October 2025 cohort, the loan period lasts from September 17, 2025, through September 17, 2026. The terms are as follows:

• Term 1: October 1 through December 31, 2025 (Loan disbursed 9/17/25)
• Term 2: January 7 through April 15, 2026 (Loan disbursed 12/22/25)
• Term 3: April 15 through July 8, 2026 (Loan disbursed 4/1/26)
• Term 4: July 15 through September 30, 2026 (Loan disbursed 7/1/26)

Additional Notes:

• Sallie Mae requires that HBS Online participants apply for undergraduate loans. Graduate school loans will not disburse.
• Many lenders use the ELM system for loan certification. Only loans sent via this system to Harvard Business School Online (school code 002155-92) will reach us. We won't be able to see, or certify, loans sent to other school codes, including those sent to the HBS MBA program.
• Participants must apply for separate loans for each course they want to finance.
• We cannot certify loans until the applicant is accepted into the program.

In support of HBS Online’s mission to extend the reach of Harvard Business School teaching and research, HBS Online offers grants to eligible participants in most of our certificate and credential programs. Grants are not available for the Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business (CLIMB), the Credential of Digital Innovation and Strategy, the Certificate in School Management and Leadership (CSML), Harvard Online courses, or the undergraduate credit option of the Credential of Readiness (CORe). (For details on using existing federal financial aid for CORe for credit, please see our CORe Undergraduate Credit page for details.)

HBS Online offers two forms of grants: an Income-Based Grant and a Military Grant. Eligibility criteria and grant amounts are detailed below.

When enrolling in a course, if you're eligible to apply for a grant, you'll see the grant option(s) listed on your account page on the Financial Aid tab.

Grants are limited in number and awarded during designated grant application windows four times per year. We are not currently accepting grant applications. The next grant application window will be July 7, 2025 12:00 PM ET - August 4, 2025 11:59 PM ET. We encourage you to apply at that time.

Grant applicants will be notified of their grant application decision on or before August 18, 2025. Dates are subject to change based on availability. Please note that we are not able to expedite grant decisions.

Grant awards may be used only once for any eligible course accepting enrollments. HBS Online courses are open for enrollment six months prior to course start. Grant recipients in any application window must complete enrollment using their award by that application window’s designated expiration date. You may need to change your enrollment to the next available cohort to use your grant (if awarded).

Please note: Grants cannot be combined with other discounts or retroactively applied to a completed enrollment.

If you are not awarded or do not use your grant by the expiration date, you may apply again during the next application window.

Please be advised that a Grant award may be considered taxable scholarship income; see IRS Publication 970 (Tax Benefits for Education) or consult with your own tax advisor. Individuals who are nonresident aliens for U.S. tax purposes are ineligible for a Grant award for any course they take while present in the U.S.

To ensure timely access to the course, all enrollment steps must be fully completed before the deadline. Please note that submitting partial payment does not finalize enrollment. Your enrollment is not final until you complete full payment.

Income-Based Grants

All grants have been awarded for the current application window. Grants are limited in number and awarded during designated grant application windows four times per year. We are not currently accepting grant applications. The next grant application window will be July 7, 2025 12:00 PM ET - August 4, 2025 11:59 PM ET. We encourage you to apply at that time.

The Income-Based Grant is available only to first-time participants of HBS Online who have not yet enrolled in a course. The grant application asks prospective participants to provide their annual household income, household size, number of dependents, and answer two essay questions. Eligible participants may only use an Income-Based Grant once for a single enrollment. After enrolling in a course, participants will not be eligible to apply for the Income-Based Grant again.

Military Grant

All grants have been awarded for the current application window. Grants are limited in number and awarded during designated grant application windows four times per year. We are not currently accepting grant applications. The next grant application window will be July 7, 2025 12:00 PM ET - August 4, 2025 11:59 PM ET. We encourage you to apply at that time.

The Military Grant is available to any participant who's an active service member or veteran of the U.S. military. The Military Grant can only be used once for a single enrollment. The application will ask participants to provide a scanned document that verifies their current or prior military status. Examples of supporting documentation are Military Leave and Earning Statements, Discharge Certificate, DD214 forms, or Veteran’s licenses.