<p>Collegeboard.com does not have this information.. but I would like to know.</p>
<p>Also, does Columbia have any financial aid programs like Dartmouth's (i.e. all expenses paid for people whose family incomes are less than 75k..or something like that)?</p>
<p>The average indebtedness is irrelevant to you. Nobody has any idea how poor/rich the "averagely indebted" family is.</p>
<p>I'd just like to get a general idea.. to compare with other schools. For example, Caltech's average indebtness is only $9,871,whereas Cornell's is about 24 k. I would assume that this tells me something about the amount of financial aid given..unless Caltech's students are marginally richer than those of Cornell ^.^</p>
<p>"Families with calculated incomes between $60,000 and $100,000 and typical assets will see their parent contributions significantly reduced."</p>
<p>so vague.......</p>
<p>OP worth researching financial aid a bit more; what Columbia and other schools say and try to make simple is actually more complex.</p>
<p>1) most highly selective schools are 'full-need' schools which means if your family needs X amount of money, the university will give it to you in financial aid. be aware of schools that do not promise to meet full need. then there are merit scholarship schools and that money too has restrictions.</p>
<p>2) financial aid varies from school to school, at columbia there is no loan component. usually when people speak of college loans they are talking about the standard loan amount they have to take out as part of their financial aid package (almost every school has such a component except about a dozen or so that eliminated loans like CU). At most schools this is 3-5k a year. beyond loans they will offer some form of 'university grant,' and then you have to do federal work study. the remainder will be what they think your parents can afford.</p>
<p>3) at times what your parents can afford and are willing to pay is different. whereas a college presumes that your family will never need to borrow money, parents are finicky creatures. at times that may mean choosing between college and your family's yearly vacation. it may mean mom and dad can't put away money for their retirement. colleges are not financial analysts and though they calculate what mom and dad should be able to cough up, they can't tell a family that perhaps buying a benz is a bad family financial decision if you want to send them to college, but parents often make bad financial decisions. i knew a half dozen friends from high school whose parents refused to pay for their school while they rode around in new cars. also if your parents are split they assume that both rents will contribute something, but we all know this is a very difficult scenario.</p>
<p>4) most indebtedness comes from students or families taking on private loans to pay off the parental contribution. these are not recommended parts of a students financial aid, but often used (though less so now with the economic crisis tightening loans). my family decided not to take on student loans and my mom and me worked out a plan to be able to cut back spending to make it all work out well, not all families are as amenable as mine. i was also able to get a financial aid package that at the time didn't include loans which means now i have 0 debt from college (now it is standard at columbia). </p>
<p>5) the expectation if you read the loan policy is that no student should have debt...but we know this is not going to be the reality as families will turn to private loans. make sure your fam knows the different programs and reads the fine line. it is easy to either think you deserve more money than you do or to actually find out that you will pay less money at a place like CU than at a state school - if you research you can figure out the true story.</p>
<p>op - and to clarify something like Dartmouth's policy. it isn't 'all expenses paid,' it is no parental contribution. that doesn't mean that you don't have to contribute some part of your aid (there is a student contribution part in every aid package of money they expect students to contribute to their education usually from summer earnings). a lot of families/students don't figure that part out. it isn't as cut and dry, not even harvard's policy. read the link beautiful posted for columbia's version. and by most accounts columbia's aid is about as good as it gets comparing favorably to other top Ivies and usually more favorable to other highly selective schools.</p>
<p>Colleges only calculate your "need" based on the numbers they get from you.</p>
<p>On the other hand, parents like my mom have different perspectives on need. Probably, we'll get 0 financial aid because although we are low income, we have no house, cars, businesses or any other assets and we just save money. The college expects my mom to take out that $200,000 from the bank to pay for my college, where as my mom is telling me "good luck paying off $200,000 in loans. this is why you need to go to med school"</p>
<p>You probably won't have any debt after graduating from Columbia unless:
a) your parents refuse to pay their calculated parental contribution
b) you take out private loans instead of workstudy/working during summer
c) you spend a lot of money</p>
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Probably, we'll get 0 financial aid because although we are low income, we have no house, cars, businesses or any other assets and we just save money. The college expects my mom to take out that $200,000 from the bank to pay for my college
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<p>income is the most important thing in determining financial aid and no school would epect your parents to spend their WHOLE life savings on your college education</p>
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"good luck paying off $200,000 in loans. this is why you need to go to med school"
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<p>u realize med school isn't free right? so you'd be paying off $400,000 in loans</p>
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income is the most important thing in determining financial aid and no school would epect your parents to spend their WHOLE life savings on your college education
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However, no college is going to disregard an unusual amount of assets in their calculations. I have a friend who is kind of shafted this way; his father passed away a few years ago and had a life insurance policy. Hence, his family has a disproportionate amount of assets when compared to their annual gross income. Obviously, they could afford to pay for his college tuition, but he still has several younger siblings. Hence, he is probably going somewhere that will give me a merit award.</p>
<p>Before College Board updated the Columbia page with info from the class of 2012 the figure was around $7,500. Although the usefulness of this figure is obviously questionable, it's the lowest one I've seen on CB (definitely the lowest of the top 20 U's).</p>
<p>My mom used the EFC calculator and our efc is like 40,000. Income is around 60k. My guess is my mom's savings account is pretty hefty...</p>
<p>My friend accepted ED to Penn got 36k in aid because she has 3 siblings in college~ <em>envious</em></p>
<p>Yeah med school is going to be pretty costly.. sigh~</p>
<p>question: do financial aid committees take into account the number of younger siblings you have? I'm guessing no, right?</p>
<p>^they definitely do.</p>
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question: do financial aid committees take into account the number of younger siblings you have? I'm guessing no, right?
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^they definitely do.
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<p>woah....hold on there.... they absolutely take into account how many siblings you have that are in college but i dont think the number of younger siblings you have makes nearly as much of a difference to your financial aid award.</p>