<p>Is columbia stingy about financial aid? What income range do you have to be to get it? also do they consider special circumstances?</p>
<p>Yes, it is known to be stingy with financial aid if you are in the upper middle class. However, I have heard for lower income families, it is generous. Don't take my word for it, though.</p>
<p>It is also very generous for minorities because of Kluge scholars, but it doesn't give all grants like Princeton does. Oh well.</p>
<p>I agree with what xjayz has said about the upper middle not getting financial aid, but the question is - if the family is UPPER MIDDLE, do they really NEED financial need?</p>
<p>imiracle911, for what it's worth, Columbia is not stingy what it comes to NEED. If your parents combined income fall below the 50,000~65,000, there should be AT LEAST a pretty decent amount of aid.</p>
<p>Feel free to private message me if you feel like talking about financial-related matters.</p>
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I agree with what xjayz has said about the upper middle not getting financial aid, but the question is - if the family is UPPER MIDDLE, do they really NEED financial need?
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<p>It's hard to say. It definitely feels like I need aid, even though we're not even close by any of the finaid calculators or the FAFSA estimate. My parents basically think the price tag is absurd and refuse to pay $180k for college. I can't blame them for that, because it really isn't worth it except possibly intangibly. However, it does aggravate me that because my parents won't pay it all, I'd have to come out of Columbia with $100k of debt, as compared to somebody with less money in the first place who ends up with $20k-$30k of debt.</p>
<p>If it comes to more than $40k of debt on my shoulders, I simply won't be able to go, Columbia's promises to make it affordable notwithstanding.</p>
<p>Well no, people can get by with the necessities, but why should a family have to take out a second mortage or something to finance an education? In the end, they're just going to send their kids to a less expensive school. </p>
<p>I think the upper middle class has it worst because they're too poor to pay the full tuition but too rich to get decent aid. </p>
<p>Anyhow, I heard columbia has bad finaid but again, from middle class people.</p>
<p>Delfire, The problem that middle/upper middle class families face is that they tend to be asset rich and cash poor. Cash poor with regard to being able to write a check for 40k. Please understand that I am not complaining about my situation on whole. However, to pay the freight for a school such as Columbia, we would have to make a serious dent in our retirement savings. Doing so would cost much more than 40k due to early withdrawal penalties, etc. We did save some money for college, but we never considered that the cost would be so high. Oh, for 20/20 foresight....maybe we could write a check for an Ivy League....maybe....</p>