<p>Nobody can answer that question except someone who attends there or the university themselves. For FAFSA, the money is treated as an asset and will affect your EFC. How the university interprets that varies by institution. In theory, if it is included to determine your EFC it should not be used to lower the school’s need they meet.</p>
<p>P.S. As stated by the previous poster, the hard part is getting in. Last year, Columbia had the second lowest overall acceptance rate (6.93%) behind Harvard and the lowest RD acceptance rate (5.64%).</p>