We invite students enrolled at Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences who identify as First Generation, Low-Income (FLI) to contact our office with questions about financing their education. This page is meant to act as a helpful reference point, with information and links to address some of the more commonly discussed topics brought up in our meetings with FLI students. Students who do not identify as FLI may find many of the below topics to be helpful as well.

Student Responsibility

• The standard Student Responsibility amounts are based on a student's year of enrollment. The Student Responsibility is the sum of the Student Contribution and the Academic Year Work Expectation. The standard Student Responsibility amounts are as follows:

• Students may find they have a Student Responsibility that is either higher or lower than standard. It may be higher due to a student's higher than average income or assets or it may be lower due to a student's membership to a variety of specialized programs designated upon admission.

• The Student Responsibility is not charged separately from the Parent Contribution on a student's Fall or Spring term bill. As noted here, the Net Cost is the sum of the Parent Contribution and the Student Responsibility.

• Students have the option to meet some or all of their Student Responsibility through a variety of methods, including outside scholarships, the Work Exemption Program, and/or student loans.

On-Campus Jobs

• Many students choose to earn money towards their personal expenses or term bill through an on-campus job. Each academic year, students may be eligible for either Federal Work-Study or Student Employment (casual work) based on their financial aid packages.

• Federal Work-Study is funded partially by the government and eligibility for this program is determined by the FAFSA and financial aid package. FWS jobs are posted online on the Student Financial Services website.

• Casual employment positions are funded by the University, and job opportunities are posted on the LionSHARE portal.

• Students are welcome to contact us to see if their Federal Work-Study allocation can be increased.

• Students who are unable to work should speak with a financial aid officer to explore other financing options including the Work Exemption Program and/or loans.

Work Exemption Program

• The Work Exemption Program (WEP) is designed to enable financial aid recipients to take advantage of unpaid work, internship, or learning opportunities.

• WEP grants offset the earnings a student would be expected to contribute towards their educational expenses from paid work and are applied towards the Fall and/or Spring Student Account balance.

• WEP is a competitive program with limited funding. The application process has strict deadlines as well as personal statement and recommendation letter requirements. We recommend that students seek guidance with a CCE counselor when working on the WEP application.

• Scholars, and some recipients of outside scholarships may not be eligible to apply for the WEP Grant. Students can email us at ugrad-finaid@columbia.edu if they have questions about their eligibility.

Studying Abroad

• Your financial aid travels with you if you study abroad during the fall and spring semesters!

• Learn more about this opportunity and the considerations and adjustments our office makes here.

• We work in conjunction with Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE) and the approved study abroad program of your choice to ensure that your family contribution does not change based on your decision to study abroad.

• Columbia Grant is not available for the summer semester, but students may apply for Columbia-specific or other external funding to help pay for their abroad experiences during the summer. Students should speak with a financial aid officer to explore any federal aid or loan options for the summer term.

Outside Scholarships

• Please review our instructions and guidelines for accounting for outside scholarships and external funding. All students must report any external funding they receive on the Outside Scholarship and External Funding Form.

• Students with excess outside scholarships and external funding over their Student Responsibility for the academic year can request for up to $1,500 of their excess funding to be allocated towards the cost of a laptop every other year. Students will need to email a Financial Aid Officer their laptop receipt to initiate this request.

• Outside scholarships and external payments can impact a student's eligibility for Federal Work-Study as well as the amount that could be borrowed in federal or private loans.

Dean's Student Assistance Fund (DSAF)

• Eligible students (generally, most students with Parent Contributions of $6,500 or less) with one-time and unanticipated term-time emergency expenses are encouraged to apply for assistance through the Dean's Student Assistance Fund.

• Examples for which DSAF could be requested include travel home for a family emergency or unexpected health care costs. While these are the most common DSAF approved emergencies, students are welcome to review their expenses with an officer to determine if those costs are DSAF-eligible.

Appealing your Financial Aid Offer

• If your family is having difficulties with your Net Cost, please carefully review our Appeals page for eligible and ineligible circumstances, as well as for steps on how to initiate an appeal.

• Families with a $0 Parent Contribution are ineligible to appeal for additional aid.

• The standard Student Responsibility cannot be appealed.

Columbia College Dean's Travel Fund

• The Columbia College Dean's Travel Fund provides financial support to currently enrolled Columbia College students for travel connected to recognized student organization activities, including networking, competitions, conferences, team-building, and/or service work.

• The fund is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, email cctravelfund@columbia.edu.

SEAS Dean's Travel Fund

• The SEAS Dean's Travel Fund provides financial support to undergraduate engineering students for opportunities and activities (group conferences, networking and competition events, service learning travel, or non-engineering related travel) that align with the mission of SEAS, allow for the professional development of SEAS students, and/or use engineering in the service of others.

• The fund is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, email seastravelfund@columbia.edu.

Dining Plan Selection

• We package financial aid for all on- and off-campus continuing students with the cost of the EZ 19 dining plan in the Cost of Attendance each term. Continuing students (second year and above), however, can select any dining plan.

  • Please note that while different meal plans have different costs associated with them, a student's grant financial aid will not change if they choose a meal plan that is more expensive or less costly relative to the EZ 19 plan. Rather, the student will either be charged more or less on their semester bill based on the dining plan they choose.

• Dining plan selection generally reopens for the first two weeks of the semester to allow students to switch their dining plan. There is no change fee associated with switching your dining plan.

• Students cannot switch to opting out of a dining plan once they have opted into any dining plan for the academic year.

Housing

• All non-first year students are charged the same housing rate which is the same rate used to determine their financial aid eligibility.

• Students should be aware that Housing cancellation fees may be substantial, up to the cost of a full semester of housing and should review the rate schedule when signing a housing contract.

Reapply for Financial Aid

• Students who complete their financial aid reapplication for the following academic year by May 5th can expect to receive their financial aid offers in late June / early July. Students whose reapplications are completed after May 5th can expect to receive their offers on a rolling basis thereafter.

• A student's required set of materials may differ as a continuing student relative to when they applied for financial aid as an applicant for admission. Please check your financial aid tracking portal in advance of submitting your materials for the next academic year.

Student Service Center and Student Financial Services

• The Student Service Center (SSC) can assist students with enrollment verification, registration, ID replacement, transcripts and other services.

• Student Financial Services (SFS) manages the bill, payments, payment plan, refunds, late fees and financial holds. Students can contact SFS through the Student Service Center.

• The contact information for the SSC is listed below:

Physical Address: 210 Kent Hall

Email: SSC@columbia.edu

Phone: 212-854-4400

E-Bills and Monthly Statements

• Columbia bills will be sent electronically to the student and to any authorized payer from Student Financial Services, the University’s central billing office. Our office is here to help you plan for the bill and provide your family with information regarding available financing options.

• E-bills will be sent periodically according to the Billing Schedule throughout each semester listing any other charges that are added after the initial semester bill (ex: Flex charges).

Refunds

• A credit balance is created when the payments made and/or financial aid disbursed exceed the student account charges. Students with a credit balance can choose to keep the credit on their student account to be applied to a future balance or to have the credit refunded to them.

• Refunds do need to be manually requested by the student through SSOL to allow our office to review the request so that we can request Student Financial Services to process the refund. Please see more information on the refund process here.

Financing Options

• To pay each semester bill, families may choose their preferred payment method from an array of options, or they may use a combination of payment options.

Medical Insurance

• Students are automatically enrolled into and billed for the Columbia Student Health Insurance Plan at the beginning of every academic year.

• Students should complete a health insurance waiver request through Columbia Health’s portal if they already have coverage in NYC to determine whether it is comparable coverage to the Columbia Student Health Insurance Plan. The waiver portal generally opens on July 15th and closes on September 30th each year.

• Health insurance waivers must be requested annually.

• Low-income students whose waivers are denied or who are unable to complete a waiver, should reach out to our office about the possibility of receiving additional grant aid towards the cost of the insurance.

Holds

• A financial hold is placed on a student’s account by Student Financial Services if their balance is $1,000 or more after the first billing due date of the semester. If a hold is not resolved, students will be unable to register for classes until their balance is below $1,000. Please review our guidelines to ensure that you have completed all of the necessary requirements needed to request a hold removal from the Financial Aid Office.

• For other types of holds, please check SSOL for the appropriate contact information for the hold.

• Making an online payment that will bring the balance below $1,000 for a currently enrolled student will remove the financial hold within a business day after the payment was made.

• Students returning from a leave of absence will be required to pay any outstanding balance in full before a financial hold can be removed.

Leave of Absence

• A medical leave of absence after the start of the semester will generally not count towards a student’s eight semesters of financial aid eligibility

• A voluntary leave may count against a student’s allotted terms of financial aid eligibility.

• After we have received official notification of withdrawal and your billed charges for the semester have been adjusted, we will prorate your semester financial aid accordingly. However, different departments may take longer than others to prorate your billed charges. This may explain why you see a fluctuating balance in the months after you withdraw.

• More detailed information on how a leave of absence impacts financial aid can be found on our website at https://cc-seas.financialaid.columbia.edu/content/withdrawals.

• Before taking a leave of absence, we encourage students to review CSA’s policies at https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/csa/leaves.

Financial Literacy

• The university partners with iGrad to provide students with interactive financial education and wellness tools, scholarship information, student loan management resources, plus webinars, videos and more.

• Please follow our Instagram account for financial aid events that promote financial literacy.

Contact us

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us either via email or at (212) 854-3711, set up a virtual appointment, or walk-in at any time during our normal business hours.