A choral scholar is a student either at a university or private school who receives a scholarship in exchange for singing in the school or university's choir. This is a common practice in the UK at schools attached to cathedrals where the choir is the cathedral choir, and at Oxford and Cambridge University Colleges, many of which have famous choirs.

The term is also used to refer to those who have taken a gap year to sing for a cathedral choir, generally taking on the same responsibilities as the choir's lay clerks. If the cathedral is linked to a cathedral school, the scholarship may also involve part- or full-time work at that school.