There is no official income cut-off for financial aid eligibility. Since eligibility for need-based financial aid is determined by many factors, including the family’s income, assets, family size and number in college, we encourage you to apply if you are concerned about your ability to pay.

Determining Your Financial Need

We evaluate your family’s ability to pay based on the information you provide us on the required forms. For more information regarding the application process, deadlines and required forms please visit the How to Apply section.

We understand that the financial aid process may feel daunting but we make every effort to take your family’s circumstances into account when determining your family contribution. If you have an unusual circumstance please include a letter of explanation with your application.

Once we determine your family contribution then we are able to calculate your eligibility for financial aid. Financial aid awards at Columbia are based on meeting 100% of your demonstrated financial need –simply the Cost of Attendance minus your calculated Family Contribution. In addition to Columbia is able to meet 100% of your demonstrated financial need for all four years of undergraduate study.

Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculators

We encourage you to use the EFC Calculators on the following websites:

College Board: http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp
Finaid.org: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml

***For many families, the EFC calculated by Columbia may be lower than the above calculators because Columbia uses a more generous calculation of a family’s ability to pay.