<p>Hi, I was just wondering how much Columbia students whose family income is roughly 160~200K pay for tuition?</p>
<p>Most people with that income usually have significant assets such as home equity and securities. I’d have to guess most would be paying full tuition if that’s the case.</p>
<p>Yeah … that’s what my parents said but the problem is I have two younger siblings and they can’t afford to pay full. Any advice? They can only afford ~25K/year</p>
<p>My advice would be to look for schools where the COA is $30K/year or less, and/or schools that are likely to give you merit money that is not need based. Also, work and save as much money as you can until you go to college and apply for any scholarships that you qualify for, especially local ones. Good luck!</p>
<p>Apply to some schools that are about a tier below where your stats match as well as some top schools. For example, if your match schools are in the top 25-50 liberal arts colleges, apply to some in the 50-75 range. I applied to a range of both and ended up getting massive scholarships at schools that were still great with solid reputations, but where my “stats” were above-average (like in the top 10-25% of applicants. At the school I eventually attended, I had the highest SAT score of the entering class.)</p>
<p>Not only did I get awarded several full scholarships to some pretty solid schools in the second tier of LACs, I chose one and had an absolute blast. I was challenged at that school; the student body was still impressive (let me tell you from experience: you can’t tell someone’s SAT score from talking to them, and after your last year of high school those sorts of things mean nothing. Absolutely nothing). Columbia was also my dream school in high school, but my parents couldn’t afford it, and so I didn’t apply. Instead, I came here for graduate school (which is soooooooo much better – Columbia University on my resume as my Ph.D school will be much better).</p>
<p>Also, apply to the good public universities in your area. My state had the University of Georgia, a great public university with a solid reputation (in a gorgeous town that’s consistently on the lists of top college towns), and Georgia Tech, a top engineering school. We also had the HOPE scholarship, which gives a full-tuition scholarship to any student who graduates with a 3.0 or higher from a GA high school. Would I have been proud to have UGA on my transcript as my undergraduate school? Yep!</p>
<p>Very wise words from juillet. You need to apply to a range of schools and include some where you are in the top 1-10% of their applicant pool.</p>
<p>to juillet: I really want to apply to Columbia ED b/c i think my chances would be higher and I’d just like the comfort of not having to stress the remainder of my senior year. Do you think this would be a good idea? Like I’ve stated, my family can afford 25K and I’d have to take loans for the rest if I DONT get any scholarships or grants. Should I risk it? There really isn’t any other school I’d want to go to instead. Plus, Columbia has this fantastic joint program that I want to do, where I can receive my bachelors and law degree in 6 years!</p>
<p>Are your parent’s going to cosign loans for you? No one will loan you $25K/yr without them. </p>
<p>First, run some financial aid calculators to determine what your family will or will not qualify for. It’s best to deal with real numbers when looking at the full picture. Then figure out what you would have to borrow including a tuition increase each year.</p>
<p>Next, figure out at prevailing loan rates what you will pay back each month for 20 years. If you’re planning on grad school, think about what that will cost and add to these loans.</p>
<p>Do look at whether you’ll have overlap with your siblings being in college some years. If they are also strong students who can get into schools that meet need, your family could get some aid during the overlap years. This is very hard to count on, but if you all happen to be headed for being val of your class, it’s a reasonable assumption.</p>
<p>Most figure out that borrowing anywhere near $100K for undergrad will cripple their adult life. Basic things like a decent car and a home will be on the bank burner because they have big monthly student loan bills. This is a serious, long term commitment.</p>
<p>The unfortunate fact is that for most people who make $200K and have 3 kids who won’t all be in school at the same time, private colleges are not affordable without merit aid.</p>
<p>The OP is talking about a six year program so it would be more than 100K in debt. Do not do this! These loans are not forgiveable through bankrupcty. They will follow you forever. We all want things we can’t afford. We make other choices. That is what adults do.</p>
<p>It’s NEVER a wise idea to apply ED for school that you are not certain you can afford to attend. This forum is full of stories of students that did just that and then must figure out a way to get out the binding decision because they did not think ahead about the affordability of the school.</p>
<p>my parents said they would cosign the loans for me if that helps. i dont know. i feel like its worth the risk to apply ED, and then pray that i get some scholarships/grants? especially since Columbia is the only school I really want to go to.</p>
<p>Why stretch out the pain? You won’t get grants through prayer, and since Columbia only offers need based aid, it makes much more sense to figure out what you can qualify for instead of risking backing out of ED and the consequences. Reality can be painful, but it usually ends up working best.</p>
<p>sorry i’m sure there are hundreds of threads out there but how do i figure out what i qualify for?</p>
<p>Columbia does not appear to have an aid calculator on their web site. This one will give you a ROUGH idea of what a private college would good aid might expect from your family:</p>
<p>[Cost</a> Estimator](<a href=“Home | Dartmouth Admissions”>Home | Dartmouth Admissions)</p>
<p>Try that and then read Columbia’s financial aid handbook. Note and account for differences. Call Columbia with your questions. They also may be willing to give you an “early read” whereby you give them your numbers and they tell you what your package would look like.</p>