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Has anyone heard if Columbia is going to ever step up and join Harvard, Stanford, etc. and reduce tuition and other costs to middle class America?? Going there is almost impossible and it's where my child is and wants to stay.
Has anyone heard if Columbia is going to ever step up and join Harvard, Stanford, etc. and reduce tuition and other costs to middle class America?? Going there is almost impossible and it's where my child is and wants to stay.
It's certainly a trend that's spreading amongst the elite colleges and universities. I wouldn't be surprised if they were looking at the idea of doing so, but I have neither heard nor read anything to that effect at Columbia.
I don't think that will ever happen because of the area it's in. It makes it that much more desirable to matriculate.
However, they are offering more and more funding to students who have extraordinary academic records and other criteria, by way of grants and scholarships. Look into that, you may be pleasantly surprised.
I know their school of General Studies offers full scholarships to qualifying non-traditional students.
It's certainly a trend that's spreading amongst the elite colleges and universities. I wouldn't be surprised if they were looking at the idea of doing so, but I have neither heard nor read anything to that effect at Columbia.
I did not know this was a trend. Columbia needs to follow. On top of the tuition, you have to pay to live in New York City or in the surrounding areas.
I did not know this was a trend. Columbia needs to follow. On top of the tuition, you have to pay to live in New York City or in the surrounding areas.
Yes, it's a trend. I believe it was Princeton or Harvard to first do it about a year and a half ago. Then followed other elite schools like Yale, Dartmouth, ?Stanford, and ?Brown.
They all began tapping into their endowments and using it to help middle class students more than they've ever done in the past. The Ivy League (those schools listed above, minus Stanford, but which did not include Cornell, Columbia, and Penn do not offer athletic or merit-based scholarships -- only need-based scholarships, and this typically goes to families with exceptional financial need).
Other high-priced well-known colleges will soon follow. It's a growing trend. Just like the discontinuation of early admissions applications to these same schools.
Columbia does things like guarantee housing for all of their undergrad and graduate students. They do offer a lot of money in scholarships and grants to students who are academically advanced but economically challenged. However, the competition is really stiff, but still feasible.
With the expansion of CU into Harlem's Manhattanville, they have said that they will make more of an effort to admit great students from NYC's poorer neighborhoods (at least according to their advert for use of the space in Harlem), so I can see them following suit with this trend in the future.
Columbia does things like guarantee housing for all of their undergrad and graduate students. They do offer a lot of money in scholarships and grants to students who are academically advanced but economically challenged. However, the competition is really stiff, but still feasible.
With the expansion of CU into Harlem's Manhattanville, they have said that they will make more of an effort to admit great students from NYC's poorer neighborhoods (at least according to their advert for use of the space in Harlem), so I can see them following suit with this trend in the future.
I am a graduate student, and my program was not eligible for housing. I do think they guarantee undergrads housing. I think it would be great for them to admit students from poorer neighborhoods, however I am sure they had to agree to many things in order to be able to expand. When compared to Harvard, Princeton, etc Columbia has one of the lowest ratios of student per square foot of learning space, and I think being competitive is one of their main objectives.
When compared to Harvard, Princeton, etc Columbia has one of the lowest ratios of student per square foot of learning space, and I think being competitive is one of their main objectives.
That was certainly part of their rationale for expansion into Manhattanville, and really, it's the rationale for many universities today that are considering expansion plans.
Harvard's recent expansion into the Allston neighborhood in Boston was also met with a fair amount of resistance, similar to what Columbia faced in Manhattanville. Again in that case, Harvard cited its need for square footage to build science buildings and increase the amount of space per student. More locally, NYU has been space starved for years. They're looking to expand beyond Greenwich Village. An article in the Times today announced the approval by Polytecnic University's Board of Trustees to merge with NYU, turning over control of their academic, financial, and real estate interests. This will allow NYU to expand their "campus" across to Brooklyn and increase their science infrastructure.
Anyway, so yes, space is needed if these schools are going to continue to be competitive and continue to generate hard-hitting stuff.
It's not a fully free ride that any of these schools are offering. They're just offering more aid in the forms of grants, "scholarships," and interest-free loans. It'll still cost quite a bit to attend one of these schools, but at least the current out of pocket cost will be easier for some middle class families to afford.
As I said, I'm sure Columbia is considering such a move. They have a fairly robust endowment.
BUT they may not think they'd need to with New York City having become a very popular destination for college-bound students recently. And as far as how much of their operating budget depends on tuition dollars, I can't really comment on that, as it would be an important thing to know and understand before a move to slash cash flow is considered.
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