Question about Financial Aid - Current Students, please help!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>So this is probably a dumb question but,</p>

<p>On the FA letter I received, there was a "Budget Category" and an "Amount" category detailing the costs of different things, such as tuition, heath service fee, orientation fee, room and board, etc.</p>

<p>Among the different budgets, there were:</p>

<p>Books & Supplies - $1,040
Travel - $1,172
Personal Expenses - $1,858</p>

<p>My financial aid award covered everything. The budget total came up to be $63,335 and they awarded me $60,935 for the year so all I'm paying is the required Summer Employment fee of $2,400. </p>

<p>My question is: Because Columbia's granting me full aid for books, supplies, travel, and a whole bunch of other stuff, does that mean I won't have to pay for any of them? No paying for college textbooks or what? And what the heck does "Personal Expenses" mean? Does that mean I'm receiving $1,858 to spend on my own stuff? </p>

<p>Sorry, I probably sound ridiculous (I mean, what college will actually PAY you before you even attend), but I'm just so confused right now haha. After seeing "travel" listed, my dad shouted in joy that all my plane tickets to NYC were going to be free. lol my family's really new to this and we'll appreciate some help!</p>

2

<p>Or, wait, since I was granted federal work study, am I supposed to use the money that I earn from work study to pay for books, supplies, travel, and personal expenses? I think I just answered my own question, lol.</p>

3

<p>I was going to ask a similar question!
Does anyone have any idea?</p>

4

<p>^^ Correct. The federal work study and summer employment money will go directly into your pocket, so you’re supposed to use that to cover personal expenses and books. Everything else (tuition, room/board, random fees) will be covered by the university. So you’ll never need to pay them anything, but they won’t pay you (except for work study).</p>

<p>This may seem misleading, but it really isn’t. If they didn’t take into account the cost of books and personal expenses, then they’d say: “Tuition is $60,000; you’ll contribute $2,000 from work study, so we’ll only give you $58,000” and then you’d have no money for books or personal expenses.</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the answer.
Do mind answering another question? Pwoods, I’m curious about the whole raise $2400 in the summer thing! It’s listed as Student Contribution which means I pay to the college right? Yet, on some websites, Columbia describes the $2400 fee as “to be available for the student’s educational expenses” ([Admitted</a> Students | Columbia Financial Aid and Educational Financing](<a href=“FAQs: Admitted Students | Columbia Financial Aid and Educational Financing”>FAQs: Admitted Students | Columbia Financial Aid and Educational Financing))
If the money is going directly to the college, how is it ever going to be available to me? I’ve seen some people say the money is used as pocket money for the student throughout the year while others say it’s more like tuition and must be paid to the school before semesters. Could you clarify this for me?</p>

6

<p>From what I understand, the summer employment money is the amount you should approximately earn over the summer that can be put forward to helping you pay for Columbia. It’s not really a ‘fee’, and it doesn’t go through Columbia; it should come from a summer job.</p>

7

<p>The summer employment fee is just like the work-study. It doesn’t go directly to Columbia, but instead goes into your pocket to pay for things like books and personal expenses.</p>

8

<p>I don’t understand the finaid page either. All that is listed online is $56139 in Grants, $1292 Federal Work Study and $1708 Student Employment. We don’t have any paperwork yet.</p>

<p>There is no family contribution or summer student employment or student contribution amounts listed. The Fed W/S says student expected to work 10-12 hours per week and so does the Student Employment both listed separately so that would be 20-24 hrs per week! That is odd to have 2 different W/S job listings?</p>

<p>This looks incomplete? Disregarding the W/S, it looks like the balance after grants is $7196 if according to the op above the total COA is $63,335. </p>

<p>Can anyone help translate and does anyone have the itemized COA? Thanks in advance!</p>

9

<p>pwoods: Seriously? That’s seriously good news if it’s true! But why would it be listed under Student Contribution? On the letter, it even says the Student Contribution bill ($2,400) will be emailed out in August and we pay half in the beginning of the fall semester and the other half at the start of spring semester. </p>

<p>fidoprincess: Wait for the FA letter to arrive. It should come with your acceptance letter in a few days. I was an early admit and I got my mine like two days after early decisions. The FA site only shows our awards and not the individual and total budget costs.</p>

10

<p>Thank you feedback411, I wanted to book our plane tickets but if it’s not affordable, we won’t go and look. I called and they told me the same thing. I must wait until I get the letter-ugh! I guess we just have to be patient.</p>

11

<p>Student contribution is paid to Columbia. It is not a fee and Columbia does not care how you come up with this amount. This is the amount the student needs to pay to Columbia. Of course the parents can pay this amount on behalf of the student. Federal Work Study is a job the student takes during school to earn money to spend on his/her personal needs and is not paid to Columbia. The federal government helps pay part of the student’s wages for work study jobs.</p>