I just got a Likely Letter from Columbia a few days ago (!!!), and they offered to fly me up for free to tour during one of their Admit weekends. do students who receive Likely Letters get any special treatment if they decide to enroll? will it increase my financial aid? does it mean anything besides an early decision about acceptance?
Yes they prefer you! Go for it!
Columbia will only give you the aid they feel you need, per their formula. No bonus.
Schools definitely have some flexibility with regards to financial aid. There is a range. For students who are very desirable, they often can offer a FA package at the higher end. Those who are less desirable will be offered something in the middle or bottom of the range.
As a former Columbia LL recipient (and current student), I can speak to what I know. For the most part, your aid will be the same as it would have been–you probably have some idea of whether you will get aid, although perhaps not how much. Getting a likely doesn’t change that. But a very high number of, though not all, LL recipients (yours truly included) receive a designation under Columbia’s Undergraduate Scholars Program, which, among other supplementary academic opportunities, replaces the student work expectation with grants for two years. So that is a slight boon FA-wise–it incentivized me to go to Columbia over peer institutions where I ended up with a higher COA because of these additional grants–but I can’t tell you whether you’re a scholar for sure. You’ll find out when you get your official acceptance. Tl;dr for the most part it doesn’t matter but there can be some perks.
thank you so much!
I know this isn’t relevant anymore for this year but maybe it can help someone next year. I got a likely letter from Columbia and while it could just be coincidental, my aid was about 20k more than I received from the two other ivies that accepted me (and I submitted the same financial info to all three). Then, when I got a scholar designation, the package slightly increased in value (by about 5k) and the student contribution was waived for the first two years. Of course, this is just anecdotal, but it might mean something.
One of the students I help received a LL to an Ivy (the only one she applied to) and they are flying her up this month for admit day. Crossing our fingers that this will help her aid package. Thank you @400lux and @capbara16. A lot of us are reading this thread… 
Columbia’s FA is very generous for a wide range of students. But the formula they use is dependent on a large number of factors and weights, that are different from several other schools.
For some people, the factors and weights they use will not make a difference compared to other Ivy League or elite schools - let’s call them the third at the lower end of the economic scale - they are getting full rides to all these places.
Similarly, there are then those that are full pay - the upper third who get no financial aid at all. Folks in this upper third can afford to be full pay - and aside from those in this group who chase full-merit awards elsewhere, those in this group who attend the schools that only have need based aid are doing so because they have the choice.
For the folks in the middle third, the amount of financial aid, even though it is all need-based, still matters a lot. Let’s face it, anyone accepted to Columbia or any of the elite schools is a highly qualified student who would be also very competitive for merit aid at lots of other schools that offer merit aid. But there is a lot of variability within this middle third, as these students come from different families with different situations.
The amount of FA at need based schools varies between students, based on a lot of questions. If you think of 2 different kids, both from families earning $100K in income, the amount of aid they get can easily vary by more than $20,000 at the same school - especially if one kid had six siblings, then other was an only child. Or even if both had two siblings, the formula gives very different results if one had two siblings in grade school while the other was a triplet with both other siblings in college at the same time. These are only two of the questions asked in the CSS Profile - and the Profile application can be many many pages long (especially for the family with 7 kids!).
Comparing FA offers at different need-based schools really only makes sense, then, for the same student. When you remember that even though 2 different schools both may promise to meet full need, it is the schools that determine the need, and they may determine it differently. Some may meet need but include loans and work-study, while another will meet need without loans and waive the work-study requirement. One school may expect that the parents suspend contributiions to a 401K retirement plan while the another doesn’t. One school may consider some portion of home equity as an available asset, while another school ignores it.
The elite schools that offer need-based aid are competitive with each other. If you are accepted and qualify for need based aid at one of these schools, chances are pretty good that if you are accepted at another, they will be happy to work with you to make sure financial aid is not the reason you choose one over another.
Update on the HS student we’re helping: she is flying for admit weekend. However, her financial aid package isn’t as good as a non-Ivy ($28K/year EFC Ivy v. $13K/year EFC non-Ivy). She is leaning towards the non-Ivy since she still needs to pay for medical school in four years (she’s planning on a biology major).
@Kimo2017 If Columbia is her dream, she should definitely contact the financial aid office! They are very accommodating. They even say “If your family’s situation has changed since you submitted your financial aid application, or if another school’s need-based financial aid package has provided a different interpretation of your family’s financial circumstances, please be sure to let us know. We would be happy to review other need-based financial aid packages you may have received to determine whether a change to our decision would be appropriate.” I think they would be especially willing to boost her financial aid package due to her likely status. Hope this helps.
if it’s relevant, columbia ended up having the weakest financial aid package of the ivies i was accepted to. they matched the other ones but it looks like the LL didn’t really impact my financial standings whatsoever.