The University’s highly anticipated announcement of a new financial aid plan—a response many say is crucial in the wake of similar announcements by Columbia’s peer schools—will be delayed until early next week.
The delay is due to “the administration’s preoccupation with the previously scheduled March trustee meeting,” according to a source close to the situation who wished to remain anonymous.
The announcement will come as the end of a financial aid duel likened by some to an “Ivy League arms race.” While Columbia administrators had already been discussing financial aid changes, Harvard’s December announcement that it would charge families making $120,000 to $180,000 only 10 percent of their annual income led to similar announcements from other Ivy League schools, pressuring Columbia to quickly revamp its own policy.
University President Lee Bollinger has boasted about the high number of talented low-income students Columbia attracts, but many fear that the University may lose this admissions edge if it does not offer similarly lucrative financial aid packages.
“They’re [universities with upgraded financial aid packages] using their massive endowments. ... It feels a little like an arms race,” Vice President for the Arts and Sciences Nicholas Dirks said in an interview last week.
At a December University Senate meeting, Bollinger noted that Columbia’s endowment trails significantly behind that of its peers, making it difficult to implement similarly large-scale changes. “We don’t have the existing resources ... to maintain the financial aid presently offered,” he said. “At the moment, we are stretched to the limit in doing all the things we do.”
According to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, 50 percent of Columbia students currently receive financial aid. Put into practice this school year, the most recent financial aid change began providing grants, rather than loans, to students with family incomes below $50,000.
Attempts to offset ever-rising tuition costs are ongoing. The superlatively ambitious Capital Campaign, a $4 billion effort aimed at massive fundraising, has earmarked $440 million for aid. The University received a financial aid-directed gift of $400 million from John Kluge, CC ’37, in April 2007.
The aid discussion has sparked student action on several fronts, especially within the School of General Studies. GS students currently receive only merit-based financial aid, leaving many in serious financial straits. On Tuesday night, the General Studies Student Council unanimously passed a resolution urging the University to increase aid to GS students.
According to GSSC members, the average GS student graduates with more than $60,000 in debt, while the typical CC student graduates with about $16,358. GSSC president, Niko Cunningham, claimed he will personally graduate with $80,000 of debt. Cunningham sent an e-mail to the GS student body over the weekend, asking them to urge the administration to significantly include GS in any aid reform Columbia makes.
Dirks said he recently attended a fundraiser for increasing financial aid at GS. “We’re trying to encourage alumni to contribute to the fund for General Studies student scholarships,” he said.
He added that increasing GS aid is more difficult due to endowment restrictions. “You can’t just move money around without violating the terms of endowments,” he explained. “We’re working with Dean Awn to try to find some way to enhance their financial aid picture at the same time.”
Scott Levi and Alix Pianin contributed to this article.
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