Enhancements to Undergraduate Financial Aid for 2022-2023 Academic Year

Additional enhancements to financial aid will support students attending Columbia College, Columbia Engineering, and Columbia School of General Studies.

April 26, 2022

On April 26, 2022, Columbia University announced additional enhancements to financial aid that will support undergraduate students attending Columbia College, Columbia Engineering, and Columbia School of General Studies beginning in the 2022-2023 academic year. The University has a long history of providing support for tuition, fees, room and board, and it continues to focus on meeting the financial aid needs of our students. The University also announced the term bill for the forthcoming year.

The changes to financial aid for College and Engineering students, which are intended to increase access and support families, include:

  • Expanded financial aid for students of families with incomes below $66,000. Families at this income level and with typical assets are not expected to contribute to the cost of a Columbia education. The previous threshold was $60,000.
  • Increased aid for students from middle income families, by increasing the income threshold at which tuition is fully covered in the aid package. Families with incomes up to $150,000 and with typical assets will attend Columbia tuition-free.
  • As a result, the University expects to award $200 million in scholarships and grants to undergraduates in the College and Engineering next year, where more than one-half of students receive financial assistance to attend Columbia.

For General Studies students, most of whom are following nontraditional paths to earn their degrees, Columbia will award $37 million in financial aid for the upcoming academic year, for an overall 7.2% increase in support from the University. The increase will be used in part to expand support that General Studies currently provides to veteran students, and to increase the level of support for students with the highest demonstrated need.

“These enhancements to financial aid and support reflect our commitment to making undergraduate education at Columbia accessible to students of lower and middle-income families as we work to ensure our student body is representative of a wide range of backgrounds,” said Mary C. Boyce, University Provost.

Changes for 2022-2023 Term Bill

Looking forward to the academic year of 2022-23, the University will continue to moderate tuition and fees for students who are not receiving full financial aid. Increased programmatic support, growth in financial aid, and inflationary cost pressure for goods and services supplied to the University are all factors affecting costs in the coming year. Even in light of these increases, the University has committed to a term bill increase for students that recognizes and aims to mitigate the impact of financing higher education for our families. The University’s tuition will increase 3.4% from the previous academic year, and mandatory fees will decrease modestly. For students residing in undergraduate housing on campus, the total term bill, which includes tuition, mandatory fees, and room and board, will rise 3.4%, to $81,680 for the 2022-2023 academic year.  As in past years, student payments for tuition and fees are not sufficient to cover the cost of providing undergraduate education, and the University is grateful for the support of its donors and alumni whose contributions continue to propel academic excellence at Columbia.

This announcement represents a continuation of multi-year efforts to constrain the cost of the undergraduate term bill.  For the 2020-2021 academic year, the University froze undergraduate tuition, while only modestly increasing fees, as a result of the pandemic and its impact on our students and their families. The term bill increased 2.46% for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Financial Support for Students

The University expects to award $200 million in scholarships and grants to undergraduates in the College and Engineering next year, with more than one-half of them receiving some form of financial aid to attend Columbia. The average need-based grant now covers 75% of the cost of attendance, up from 60% in 2008. 

General Studies continues to make significant strides in fundraising for financial aid, with the figure nearly tripling over the past year. Today, over 70% of General Studies students receive some form of financial aid. This group includes full and part time students who are earning traditional Columbia undergraduate degrees, often following disruptions in their studies, as well as students enrolled in innovative dual and joint degree programs.

The enhancements announced today to the University’s financial aid benefits follow significant commitments in recent years to ensure aid packages meet students’ needs. For instance, in April 2021, Columbia announced the Columbia Student Support Initiative, which aims to raise $1.4 billion in financial assistance for students by June 2025 and encompasses all 17 of the University’s schools. To support fundraising to assist undergraduate students, the University is providing matching funds from the offices of the President and Provost to each of the three undergraduate programs—the College, Engineering, and General Studies.

Beyond financial aid packages, Columbia University also facilitates employment opportunities on-campus, in New York and around the globe to support our students, including hundreds of work opportunities available throughout the University.