Columbia University to Offer Financial Aid to More Students

Columbia University will significantly expand the financial aid it offers to lower- and middle-income students, university officials announced.

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March 11, 2008
Columbia University to Offer Financial Aid to More Students
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Columbia University will join a number of other selective universities in significantly expanding the financial aid it offers to lower- and middle-income students, university officials announced.

Undergraduates from families with incomes as high as $60,000 a year will no longer have to pay for tuition, room and board, and other fees, beginning next fall. The previous threshold for a full scholarship based on financial need was family income of $50,000 a year.

Columbia also said it would end loans for incoming and current students who are on financial aid, replacing loans that were traditionally part of aid packages with grants from the university. In addition, officials said that Columbia would expand the aid it gave to students from families earning $60,000 to $100,000.

Since early December, several elite universities and colleges have either expanded aid for middle- and upper-income students or replaced loans with grants for many students. The moves have reshaped the financial aid landscape for students entering college next year. In some cases, attending a prestigious private college could cost less than a public university.

Lee C. Bollinger, Columbia’s president, said in a statement that the university had long attracted an economically diverse student body. “We are both proud of that diversity and determined to maintain it by expanding aid to the extent our resources allow,” Mr. Bollinger said.

The increased aid will be financed by annual gifts, new fund-raising and an increase in spending from the university’s endowment, officials said.