<p>I just received my acceptance packet, but I never got a phone call or email. I found out via the backdoor financial aid webpage method last Friday, so I guess this is just another confirmation of that method. I don’t want to post my stats, but you can private message me if you want them.</p>
<p>@boots2,</p>
<p>Chances are, they are still working on finalizing your financial aid package. After I was accepted, my account was also missing some information, and it was slowly added as time went on. If you contact the financial aid office, they can confirm whether this is the case, and it’s possible they’ll be able to provide more specific information than what is currently available to you online. Good luck!</p>
<p>Christina
GS Tour Guide</p>
<p>@boots2 did you ever figure out how to get your financial aid package without paying the $500 deposit? Also, I might need to defer for a year if my financial aid package isn’t big enough, but I am required to submit a planned enrollment form with the number of classes I plan to take in the fall prior to being able to view my financial aid package. Does anyone know what I should do in this situation? I tried calling the financial aid office today, but they were too busy to answer any questions.</p>
<p>@Seatown37 you definitely don’t have to pay $500 deposit to see you financial aid package. Submitting the planned enrollment form isn’t a binding commitment, it just lets the office know whether you’ll be attending full or part time and estimate the amount of classes, as that determines tuition. You need to submit FAFSA, Planned Enrollment & the New student scholarship thing before they can send you your aid award. You can decide on accepting admission offer after. </p>
<p>Ps this was typed out on my phone afters dinner with wine, so sorry for grammatical errors and the like </p>
<p>@plslivegrrm thank you very much for the explanation!</p>
<p>Welp, looks like I can’t afford it. Was expecting something reasonable from financial aid. Oh well. </p>
<p>Good luck to everybody still waiting to hear.</p>
<p>@boots2 </p>
<p>Yeah, I feel your pain. I have yet to receive my Fin Aid package and I’m already freaking out about finding the money.</p>
<p>I don’t understand how these people find money to pay for it when fed-loans and grants don’t cut it. I guess rich parents. </p>
<p>Anybody hear from housing today?</p>
<p>@achtungtree88 Yeah. They only gave me $6,000 a semester in scholarship. By my calculations, I would be well over $200,000 in debt by the time I got a diploma if scholarships stayed at the same level. I’m sure Columbia’s a good school, but drowning in debt for the rest of my life isn’t worth it.</p>
<p>@boots2 Wow, $200,000? How many credits are you transferring in? I’m hoping to bring all 57 from Community College which should help a little. </p>
<p>Also, if you do well your scholarship will increase. I’m not sure by how much, but when I went into the office they said as long as you keep a 2.6 or above your scholarship will increase. </p>
<p>@achtungtree88 I had about 20 that would transfer. But if you factor in cost of living things get really expensive really fast. I’m completely broke at the moment. I would need to borrow for rent, insurance, groceries, books, etc. plus the $16k tuition for each semester, and I’d need three years at least to finish, so yeah. It’d be close to $200k unless they drastically increase aid each semester. </p>
<p>@Columbiaacceptme you’ll hear from housing one you accept admission. They should be getting back to ppl around mid July </p>
<p>I’m in the same boat with aid. I got basically none and have calculated that I’ll have to take out about $152k in loans- and that’s only for a 9mo school term (plan on working in the summer). Also assuming that I’ve determined the correct number of classes I need to finish my degree and can complete that in two years. Working on figuring out the best way to be able to afford that but it’s absolutely insane how expensive an education there is going to be! </p>
<p>@plslivegrrm Yup. I just don’t think it’s worth it. If you get into Columbia College and they’ll help you pay for it, then sure. But I just don’t think any undergraduate degree is worth more than 20-30k in loans. Unless you’re just super rich and can pay for it all out of pocket.</p>
<p>I mean, if you’re going to med school or something, sure. You can take out 250k in loans because you’ll be able to pay it back really quickly. You can’t and shouldn’t do the same for a bachelor’s degree. It’s crazy</p>
<p>Oh man this is making me nervous…</p>
<p>Did anyone on this thread sit the GS entrance exam on June 5th? If yes did you get accepted/rejected already? Kind Regards, </p>
<p>To those students who will have to take out student loans:</p>
<p>Don’t go to GS unless your first year salary is expected to be more (gross dollars, that is), than your overall debt load. If you’re going into finance, management consulting, or tech, you should be good. Otherwise, you can mortgage your entire future.</p>
<p>I did the research and spoke to a financial aid counselor and private lender before applying. The details of the financial aid package came as no surprise. I knew what to expect before the acceptance letter. </p>
<p>Absolutely, the cost is insane. @hellojan is right about mortgaging your future. </p>
<p>Aid does go up, particularly if your GPA is 3.8+. Mine for my fourth year is roughly 4x what it was to start. However, tuition also increases year over year! At least relative to past years, starting at $6,000 per semester in institutional aid is very generous (or does that include Pell grant and other aid?). </p>
<p>A “joke” I like about GS is that there are only 3 types of people here: military veterans with the GI bill, rich people, and people bad at math. If you aren’t one of the first two…</p>
<p>None of this is to say that GS isn’t the right place for you, just be aware that it is insanely expensive, and tragically because of that it’s NOT the right choice for many. 
As @pocketsqman said though, this isn’t some hidden surprise. GS, and those of us on here, try to be as up front as possible. </p>
<p>to piggyback on what @hellojan and @campaigner said, if youre not a veteran with a gi billl or youre not a trust fun baby, at least make sure youre heading into an industry with high salary potential, eg finance or consulting. otherwise, it just doesnt make much sense. </p>