I applied to Columbia early decision this year because it was my dream school. Yesterday, I found out I got in! My family and I were so happy and excited, knowing that all my work had paid off.
Then, earlier this morning, I got an email from Columbia about our financial aid package. The school declared that I was not eligible for financial aid, meaning I had to pay around $80,000 my freshman year. I was so confused because my family is middle to upper middle class, meaning that we should get some form of financial aid. I was also ineligible for subsidized AND non subsidized loans from the government. This makes no sense! But I checked my FAFSA papers over and over and there is no mistake! I turned in all of the necessary paperwork to Columbia before the deadline. The Columbia price calculator and what FAFSA said I should be able to afford were from $10,000 to $25,000.
I’m just so confused and scared now! I thought the hardest part was past me and that I could go to my dream school, but now I don’t know what will happen! I already signed up for a virtual meeting, sent them an email, and appealed the decision, but the anticipation is killing me already.
Do y’all think that this was a mistake by the financial aid office or with something I didn’t turn in? Is this normal? Do you think I will be able to overturn the decision with an appeal? I just need help to understand what is going on.
Did you check “need financial aid” during application? Their website says " Yes, Columbia is committed to meeting 100 % of the demonstrated financial need of all students admitted as first-years or transfer students pursuing their first degree, regardless of citizenship status. … Columbia does not offer additional fee waivers to domestic students." Also people also said that check the need will reduce your chance. Sad.
I just checked my application in the commonapp and did apply with “need financial aid.” The website does say it will meet 100% of “demonstrated financial need.” That’s why I think that there is something wrong because I definitely have demonstrated financial need.
Demonstrated need doesn’t mean your parents didn’t save enough to pay for your college. “Middle to upper middle class” typically doesn’t qualify as demonstrated need. If your parents have ANY savings whatsoever and if You have a savings account, you must use that money before any school considers need. Hope that gives you a better understanding. Did you complete the Net Price Calculator? Did your parents enter the same numbers on the FAFSA?
Please ask financial to go over which aspects of fafsa and css were used to determine financial need. My daughter was in a similar position last year. We are a middle class family. My daughter got into a 100% meets need school but the financial aid initially offered was lower than expected based on our EFC and the NPC. I had a call with financial aid and had all of my documents (tax return, fafsa, and css) in front of me during the call and we went line by line discussing the relevant parts the school used for financial aid decisions. It turned out they read some info wrong and we caught it together over the phone - we have a small side business that lost money that year, and financial aid overlooked the negative sign in front of the dollar amount and added it as income instead of a business loss. At the start of the call they assured me there was no mistake in our financial aid package but if I hadn’t requested to go over it my daughter would not be at that school right now. An hour after that call we got an updated financial aid package that was more in line with the NPC. All this to say, they do make mistakes so I wish you luck with your call and hope it works out for you.
If the NPC indicated about 25K net cost, then yes there’s been a mistake. (Run the NPC again though, print it out to use: it’s not a promise of FA, but it’s supposed to be indicative.)
Have all your financial documents ready when you call and, if possible, a parent nearby. Explain you applied ED because the NPC indicated about 25K net cost but you cannot afford what the FA package indicates so you’d like to go over your CSS/FAFSA line by line to see what happened, as there surely must be a mistake.
It’s also weird that you wouldn’t be eligible for the federal loans, since all students are entitled to the 5.5K loans. Are you international? Undocumented?
Yeah I was born in the US but my parents immigrated here and are also now citizens. What you said is exactly what my college counselor said when I talked to him about this. He said it was very strange that I received no eligibility for the federal loans. He said I should’ve at the very least have gotten unsubsidized loans.
Thank you for the advice! I will go line by line with the financial aid office!
I am not a financial aid expert, hopefully some of the long time posters will comment here, but I believe having a business can skew the NPC calculation.
Definitely go over all the information line by line because mistakes do happen. Good luck!
Net Price Calculators aren’t accurate for people who own businesses. Call them to review the package but try to let go of the idea of a “dream” school. I don’t know what you mean by “upper middle” income, but the combination of a high income and a family owned business can make financial aid difficult to navigate. Do you have any financial safeties?
my NPC and FAFSA were so different from reality bc my family was not the typical NPC profile. Every school has their own way of calculating. Since your parents own a biz, the school will expect to see the tax filing for those probably. good luck, but I know many students who could not attend the school bc of financial aid. If you say upper middle income, then it’s unlikely you would get much financial aid, maybe unsubsidized loan, which is limited.
I have heard some people who own many rental properties/or business and still managed to have their kids earned full-ride through Quest Bridge. This is simply how unfair this world is!
Ok I checked what upper middle class is on google and my family is actually not. My family is middle class because we make very slightly above the full year tuition that Columbia expects us to pay in a year. Sorry for the mistake but since I go to a private school I considered myself privileged! I should have given more accurate information .
Your family nets ~$85k/year or grosses ~$85k? That will matter for financial aid. Colleges don’t expect families to pay their entire income for college. If you got zero need-based aid then it sounds like the income is higher than you think or there are assets driving up your EFC.
Financial aid is very different from one school to the other… some are more generous than others. I believe that your parents owning a business greatly impacted what you will receive from Columbia even though they may not be making a lot of money from the business. As someone suggested, make sure you have all documents, including, the business available.
In addition, some schools only counted adjusted income, while others, will include your wages before tax in determining your financial aid. For example, when my daughter was accepted to UW-Madison, Stanford University, and Duke last year, the net calculation was very accurate and we were only off by a few hundreds but we don’t own a business. UW-Madison only look at adjusted income but at Stanford University, the school look at your w2 or before tax wages AND adjusted income. I did read it somewhere that another student attending Duke University had to pay the full amount even though the parents’ business was bringing in very little money. Hopefully, it will work out in the end for you. Best wishes!