Despite a modified financial aid model, Columbia’s School of General Studies continues to face challenges in obtaining financial aid for its students.
In 2008, GS—which enrolls nontraditional students, who may be supporting families or may have spent years working before coming to Columbia—launched a revised program intended to increase need-based aid opportunities for students with the highest levels of aggregate loans and the lowest estimated family contributions. For decades prior, GS had an exclusively merit-based program.
According to GS Dean Peter Awn, the average debt of GS students has increased over the last decade. But for the last three academic years, roughly 10 percent of the total institutional aid pool, or one million dollars yearly, has been used to support the new need-based enhancement program.
Despite this systematic shift and other, smaller efforts to make the aid process at GS easier, though, some students say they are still struggling to get the aid they need, and in some cases, even to understand the process.
“While the enhancement grant does not eliminate the need for GS students to take on loans to finance a Columbia education, the program has slowed the rate of growth in average debt loads for GS graduates,” Awn said in an email.
Financial aid at GS comes from three sources—73 percent from general income, 7 percent from current use of gifts, and 20 percent from the endowment. Roughly 75 percent of the student body receives some form of aid.
According to Katherine Edwards, General Studies Student Council president, the economic crisis has made it harder for students to receive private loans. Students, she said, have also expressed concern about private debt, paying tuition per class credit, and the difficulties of finding outside scholarships and loans due to age cutoffs. For some students though, the process is simply unclear.
“I don’t know how they determine who gets the GS scholarship or how much money they give,” Taiyoshi Saito, GS, said.
Rory Minnis, GS, added, “I didn’t even apply for aid my first year here because I didn’t think I would be eligible, since it was only merit-based.”
In response to student complaints of confusion, Awn said that GS has made efforts to improve communications online and in print regarding policy and process, along with implementing a new website.
GS recently launched a new financial aid system called PowerFAIDS, which Awn said offers better ways to manage the financial aid process, including the possibility of having one-stop financial aid counseling for all GS students, an option he said GS is actively investigating.
Edwards said that, while there is some confusion over the new system, the dearth of available funds remains the primary concern for students. “Most dissatisfaction with current GS financial aid is not the system, but simply the lack of funding for more need-based aid to students,” she said.
Marie Mounier, GS, acknowledged administrative efforts, saying, “The administration makes it clear by being accessible to students and by making the website helpful.”
GS is integrated into the Columbia Campaign for Undergraduate Education, a fundraising initiative that could help raise GS’ endowment by $15 million. “As gifts arrive, they are immediately incorporated into the endowment,” Awn said.
Though GS has a larger goal of aligning itself more closely with Columbia College with respect to financial aid, some say disparities in aid have detracted from that effort. Awn, though, said that the discrepancy in both the discount rate—which represents return of tuition funds to students in the form of aid—and the total available aid for GS and CC students is caused by the relative size of their endowments.
Despite the administration’s aggressive fundraising, some students said they felt more could be done.
Mounier said, “The bureaucratic nature of financial aid makes it painfully time-consuming and stressful to figure out on your own.”
Saito said he would like to see more financial aid from the University for GS. “Show me the money,” he said.
Kevin Flora, GS, hasn’t received aid for several semesters, and has struggled to figure out why. Flora said he formulated a regression table and basic correlation matrix to try to understand the lack of aid after studying abroad in China for a year. He included factors such as GPA, estimated family contribution, activities outside of schoolwork, and whether students were part-time or full-time.
“I am basically trying to argue with a small, unofficial study that because I possess the same qualifications as the average student who was awarded aid, I should also be awarded the same aid for those periods,” he said.
Some students, though, have had good experiences. “Quite good, can’t complain,” Minnis said. “I’m getting supported by the GI Bill and GS.”
Minnis added that it is also important for students to take the initiative to learn the process. “You can’t expect everything to just fall on your lap.”
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