<p>Re Barnard financials:
Barnard has an annual operating budget of about $165 million. About 1/3 of that goes to payfor instruction. Roughly 20% goes to financial aid. About $5 million is paid to Columbia for cross registration and use of Columbia facilities. For that $5 million - 3% of the overall budget -, Barnard students have full access to Columbia’s libraries, undergraduate and some graduate level course offerings, dining facilities, athletic facilities, and common areas on the Columbia campus. I think that is $5 million well spent.</p>
<p>Sometimes it’s cheaper to “rent” rather than own. Barnard students have the benefit of the entire Columbia infrastructure, including faculty and resources --but their administration saves money by paying agreed fees on on a per-use or per-student basis. Of course the agreement is reciprocal - Columbia students have access to Barnard courses and the Barnard library, and facilities such as the new Diana center. But of course the resources that Barnard offers to Columbia are much smaller in comparison to the resources that Columbia is able to offer Barnard. </p>