<p>Columbia won't pay for my transportation to visit the campus like Harvard and Princeton have done. Sure, Columbia is not as rich as the others, but I don't understand why they would bother recruiting me by naming me a John Jay Scholar, sending me handwritten letters, calling me frequently, and "enhancing" my financial aid package only to say "you're on your own" when it comes to the most important factor influencing my decision to attend.</p>
<p>One person told me to email a woman by the name of Ms. Pili to arrange for the university to pay for my trip. I did, and a week later she hasn't responded. When I called back, I was told that the university simply doesn't have the resources to pay for my trip. So what's the deal?</p>
<p>Has anybody received financial assistance to visit the campus? If so, how did you go about getting it?</p>
<p>At most its $300. Either visit the school or don’t. What do you want us to say? If you can’t afford that; you can’t afford living in Morningside. Its that simple. ****. Enough of this crap.</p>
<p>My question was straightforward: I was asking recently admitted students if and how they received financial aid to visit the campus. The answer is either “No” or “Yes, and here’s how.”</p>
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<p>What the hell is your problem? Don’t like the fact that I’m asking for more money? Too bad. I’m just doing what any other cross-admitted student should and would do.</p>
<p>An no, it’s not that simple: I have several different sources of funding available once I’m in New York, from relatives to the Canadian government. But thanks for coming out.</p>
<p>LionHeaded - wow you really like to be a great ambassador for CU. you continuously show just how boneheaded someone can be. thanks for shilling for that minority opinion, it is always refreshing reminder of why it is worth posting on here. to make sure that prospies know how to spot a tool.</p>
<p>mustafah ignore him, but the question you asked is more for adcoms of columbia or maybe student tour guide type people than your average CC poster. check in with the lot like i mentioned in my PM and let me know how it goes.</p>
<p>I agree with LionHeaded (screenname after the bar or just mascot?), it tends to get annoying when kids think they’re bigger than Columbia and Columbia should work so hard to woo them. A school’s willingness to go all out and woo students really isn’t very indicative of the quality of pretty much anything at the school. Look, Columbia’s one of the most prestigious schools in the country, and it’s probably one of the best, if not the best, college experiences you can have. If you decide to come here, good for you you’ve made a great decision you’re in for quite possibly four of the best years of your life. You decide to go somewhere else, we’ll live. You decide to go somewhere else based on the fact that Columbia was unwilling to reimburse your travel expenses, then you don’t belong at a school like Columbia.</p>
<p>As a Columbia alum., I am astounded at how the landscape has changed from when I applied in 1977.</p>
<p>I went to Columbia sigh unseen. In fact, I had never even been to New York before I showed up on campus. </p>
<p>I came from a middle class background and the thought of asking Columbia to pay me to visit never occurred to me. I was ecstatic just to get in, and was even more ecstatic to get about half my tuition paid. </p>
<p>When I got there, I had the time of my life, educationally and socially. </p>
<p>In answer to the question, “What’s the deal?” Here it is: You asked Columbia for money to travel there. Columbia said no. End of story. I would proceed on the assumption that you are going to have to pay your own way if you want to see Columbia. Maybe you could stop there on your way from Princeton to Harvard?</p>
<p>LionHeaded needs to calm down…clearly he got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning</p>
<p>Petrocelli…i think you are officially the oldest alum on this board…congrats</p>
<p>Mustafah - columbia is in new york city!!! i don’t see a reason they should give out free trips to new york to accepted students…that’s like the kind of thing you win on a game show. they also know that if you come here you won’t just be coming to see columbia so that gives them less incentive to pay for your vacation. but here’s a brilliant thought…when you go to harvard or princeton hop on a bus for 10 bucks and go visit columbia! there, problem solved.</p>
<p>Oldest alum on the Board? Wow. It seems like only yesterday I was seeing The Clash at the Palladium, or waiting to get in at Xenon disco.</p>
<p>The only reason I am here is that my son is going to SMU in Dallas, and I was checking out the boards. I saw this post and the title caught my eye.</p>
<p>Gotta go. “Wheel” in on and my wife says I have to drink my Metamucil.</p>
<p>I’m not greedy or ungrateful, if that’s what you’re suggesting. I began this thread not because I wanted to find out how to milk Columbia for all its worth, but because I wasn’t getting a straight answer from the CU administration about what I was entitled to. I sought clarity here. It’s as simple as that.</p>
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<p>The wording of my original post makes it seem as though Columbia flat-out denied me financial assistance and I just can’t accept it. To clarify, one staffer told me, “Yes, we might be able to pay for your trip. Just e-mail Ms. Pili to arrange the details.” A week later, another staffer said, “No, we don’t have the resources for that sort of thing. Goodbye.” I was simply wondering which statement was correct.</p>
<p>Let’s not play semantical games, here. “What I was entitled to” = “what funding was available to me.” Why must you pounce on every opportunity to portray me as a poor, lazy, arrogant thief? You lambaste the low-income student who asks for $150 for a one-way bus ticket, yet do you berate the upper-middle-class student who negotiates thousands of dollars more in financial aid that he doesn’t really need, or who conceals thousands of dollars in assets using special financial instruments?</p>
<p>you’ve already been given a good enough solution that’ll cost you very little money (go visit columbia when you go to harvard or princeton). stop creating a straw man…if someone came here asking about how to get more financial aid when their parents make $200k or asks about hiding their parents $2 million of assets we would all be equally annoyed with them. i’m quite sure harvard and princeton OFFERED to pay for your trip unprompted…if columbia didn’t offer the same thing then they aren’t willing to do it…this doesn’t mean that harvard or princeton are superior to columbia, in fact it could be that they feel inferior and want to sweeten the pot and think you’ll be swayed by a couple hundred dollars…which, from your posts seems like you might be.</p>
<p>Pragmatically speaking, see if you can get Ms. Beth Pili on the phone. I’m sure she’s quite busy right now, but you may find her a little more receptive and diplomatic than some others around here. I’ll leave the judging to others.</p>
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Not quite sure. Wise Owl I think may be an alum from the same or slightly older vintage. And there’s some sort of former yale professor / columbia undergrad, I forget his name but I think the username began with “Old”, he hasn’t posted in a while but he’s at least ‘around’ and I’d wager he’d be the oldest if he counts.</p>
<p>This thread is a sh–show, and I totally think everyone is being way too hard on the OP. He was just asking about whether he could get a frigging plane ticket reimbursed… it’s not like he’s demanding to be flown in to NYC on a private jet and be put up at the Waldorf=Astoria.</p>
<p>i was recently admitted to Columbia and requested travel funding. A few days ago they approved it. Ms. Pili is my admissions officer and told me to email a Nicole Thompson who organizes travel. Ms. Pili explained that it was all based on one’s financial aid and the first thing I had to do was complete my financial aid application. Maybe you should reach out to Ms. Thompson as well? The program is next week so I would do it soon. good luck to everyone.</p>