HEY so I really wanna do Columbia (ED) but I heard you get less scholarship/financial aid. is this true? columbia is def my first choice but idk if I wanna pay $$$ for undergrad (maybe grad school?) 
No this is not true. Columbia has a set equation for awarding financial aid whether you are ED or RD. There are a few scholar things are almost all awarded to RD that include funding for summer which is a nice bonus but otherwise aren’t anything exciting. Run the calculator. Unless your family has something complicated like a business it should be pretty solid on what you will be offered. Columbia does require a student work commitment which not all the 100% need met schools do so you might find the aid slightly less than Harvard but it’s not a large amount of money and the jobs offered through work study pay well and many are useful for the resume.