<p>Some questions for all of the accepted students: Are you satisfied with your financial aid? How was your aid package in comparison to those you received from other institutions?</p>
<p>They expected us to pay the EFC (estimated family contribution) and met the difference with small loans for my son, small work\study and a large grant. It works out almost the same as Chicago. We're still waiting on Columbia, but people are not happy with their financial aid awards on that board (say they are the worst). I mean, yeah, it'd be great if they waived the EFC, but hey, we knew it was coming.</p>
<p>Bottom line ds can attend Columbia or Chicago for same out-of-pocket costs as our HUGE well respected state university all his friends are going to. Guess where he is going? :-D</p>
<p>Actually, anyplace but state U. He's going to tour the three schools this month and decide. </p>
<p>momoffive</p>
<p>Actually, when I was a senior in HS my best financial aid package came from Columbia. At first I had the same package from Columbia and Cornell, then I spoke pretty extensively with them both. Columbia ended up offering me twice as much as they had previously, but Cornell did absolutely nothing. If you find that you truly aren't satisfied with your package and you think you have a unique situation, you should talk to the FinAid counselors. In fact, fax them your "better" aid packages and as long as they're all need-based (as opposed to merit scholarships), Columbia will earnestly reconsider your Financial Aid. Really, they don't honestly want to screw you up by making you pay tons more than you should, and they're a lot more understanding than people on this board seem to think.</p>
<p>I meant to say we're waiting on Cornell. Columbia and Chicago are about the same. momoffive</p>
<p>The Columbia financial aid package for our D is very fair. In fact, the EFC is equal to or slightly lower than the EFC as calculated by FAFSA, which means Columbia didn't take into consideration our home equity, which isn't huge, but it is there.</p>
<p>When comparing packages, Columbia's is very competitive even with schools that are offering our D merit aid. Some of the merit aid at other schools simply offsets the higher costs of tuition, room and board, etc. relative to what Columbia charges. In the end, our out of pocket costs plus student loans will be comparable to or slightly lower than other similar schools. </p>
<p>The work study portion is slightly higher than some schools expected, but it is within reason and appears to work out to 10-12 hours per week.</p>
<p>I think Columbia has underestimated personal and travel expenses by 40-50% given the cost of doing reasonable things in NYC...food, movies, shows, bus/subway/cab fare. But even when adjusting for these factors, Columbia's offer is very reasonable and puts a quality education and living in NYC within the reach of a middle class family.</p>
<p>columbia calculated my contribution to be more than 10K than my fafsa EFC. needless to say, i am quite frusterated/at a loss for what to do</p>
<p>i'm also just started the appeal process</p>
<p>Columbia was perhaps the most generous school I've ever laid my eyes upon. Basically, they matched my family's FAFSA EFC and gave me very little work study and loans (which are now covered through some scholarships I won). To put it in a little perspective, it only costs 1 dollar more to attend Columbia versus the state school I was considering (UC Berkeley). I couldn't be more thankful for their generosity.</p>