Should I go here?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Hello fellow CCers,</p>

<p>Long story short, I was accepted as a transfer student into Columbia's Class of 2016. I would have ended the previous sentence with an exclamation point, but here's the problem: I can't pay for it. My EFC is $18,000, but the amount my family will have to pay (subtracting my outside scholarships) is $35,000 as Columbia does not guarantee meeting 100% of demonstrated need for transfers. I'm a CNA and I was looking at the possibility of working nights as a full-time nursing assistant at a nearby hospital. Does anyone who has firsthand experience as to the rigor of Columbia's coursework know if this is possible? I don't want to know if it's piling on a lot of stress, if I won't have any freetime-I already know all of this. I just need to know if I can work 7.5 hours 5 days a week, have a full class schedule, and still maintain a GPA over 3.5. This school is a dream of mine, and I will fight to make it work. I just need to know if only being able to study about four hours every weekday and eight every weekend will be enough (right now at my regionally-popular liberal arts school I'm taking 21 credits, averaging about two hours of studying a day, and my GPA is a 4.0).</p>

<p>Otherwise, does anyone have any advice about other ways to pay for college that don't include taking out thousands of dollars in loans?</p>

2

<p>If you are in a major that doesn’t require a lot of outside tedious work (like labs, psets, etc.), then I think it would be completely doable, but definitely not enjoyable. That being said, you’ll come out with a Columbia degree and a very valuable set of experiences - getting yourself through college that way would be very commendable. But be prepared, 2-3 years of that would be very tough, and burning out is entirely possible.</p>