Our mission is to help all students admitted to Columbia College and The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, regardless of individual financial circumstances, achieve their goal of pursuing a world class education at Columbia University. We are here to assist you with your plan to pay for college.

Our expert staff of advisors can help your family with the financial aid application process, developing a student budget, and creating a financing plan for your time at Columbia.

Our Approach

• Need-Based

  We determine financial aid eligibility by evaluating your family's ability to pay for education costs.

  Financial aid at Columbia is need-based; there are no academic, athletic or talent-based institutional scholarships. Instead, we evaluate your family’s ability to pay based on the information you provide us in your financial aid application. We conduct a thorough financial analysis for each student every academic year in order to determine financial aid eligibility.

• Need-Blind

  We evaluate admissions applications of US Citizens and Eligible Non-Citizens without regard to your financial need.

  Admission to Columbia is need-blind for US Citizens and Eligible Noncitizens, meaning the Office of Undergraduate Admissions considers your application without regard to your financial need. Undocumented students who reside in the United States are also evaluated in a need-blind manner. International applicants, please see International Financial Aid information.

• Full Need

  We meet 100% of the demonstrated financial need for all domestic students and all international students admitted with funding.

  We continue to meet 100% of your demonstrated financial need for all four years of study. For an estimate of the need-based financial aid for which you may qualify, visit our Net Price Calculator.

Our Program

• No Loans

  Our need-based aid is in the form of grants and student work only. Loans are not used to meet financial need or included in initial financial aid awards.

• $0 Parent Contribution

  For students coming from families with calculated total incomes of less than $66,000 annually (and typical assets), parents are not expected to contribute to the cost of attendance.

  Calculated Incomes: A family’s calculated total income includes taxed income, and any untaxed income (e.g., tax-deferred retirement and pension contributions, Flexible Spending Account contributions, Social Security benefits, child support received, and tax-exempt interest). In cases of divorced or separated families, both parents’ incomes are considered to determine the total family income.
  Typical Assets: Parents’ assets include cash, savings, investments, home equity, other real estate equity, and business equity. Retirement assets are not included in our financial aid analysis. For families with total calculated income up to $150,000, we consider typical assets are those up to approximately $250,000.

• Free Tuition

  Students coming from families with calculated total incomes of less than $150,000 annually (and typical assets) will be able to attend Columbia tuition-free.

  Calculated Incomes: A family’s calculated total income includes taxed income, and any untaxed income (e.g., tax-deferred retirement and pension contributions, Flexible Spending Account contributions, Social Security benefits, child support received, and tax-exempt interest). In cases of divorced or separated families, both parents’ incomes are considered to determine the total family income.
  Typical Assets: Parents’ assets include cash, savings, investments, home equity, other real estate equity, and business equity. Retirement assets are not included in our financial aid analysis. For families with total calculated income up to $150,000, we consider typical assets are those up to approximately $250,000.

• Start-Up Grants

  Incoming first-year students from low-income families will receive a $2,000 start-up grant to ease their transition to college.

• Broad Aid Eligibility

  Our financial aid analysis considers many factors in determining eligibility; there are no income or asset cutoffs.

  For those students coming from families with calculated total incomes between $66,000 and $100,000 annually (and typical assets), Columbia offers a reduced parent contribution. Families earning upwards of $100,000 can also qualify for need-based financial aid from Columbia.

• Funding Opportunities

  Columbia offers enhanced financial aid to support students pursuing enrichment activities and programs, including study abroad during the academic year.

  We also offer additional funding to allow students to pursue unpaid research, internship, and community service opportunities.

• International Aid

  While Columbia is need-aware for international students, we admit a large number of international students who apply for and receive a substantial amount of financial aid.

  Columbia meets 100% of the demonstrated financial need for international students. International applicants must apply for and demonstrate financial need at the time of admission. Undocumented students who reside in the United States are evaluated in a need-blind manner.

• Guidance for All

  We offer all enrolled students and their families one-on-one guidance about the financial aid application process, student and parent loans, payment options, budgeting and more.