Financial Aid FAQs

All Full-time MBA: Awards are given up to the billed amount of tuition. Aid is not granted for living expenses. Students can borrow loans to assist with living expenses. 

August full-time MBA: All students applying will be considered for merit-based aid based on the application for admission. No additional applications are needed. Students invited to interview will have the option of submitting a separate need-based aid application. 

January full-time MBA: Students invited to interview will have the option of submitting a separate need-based application.

Students do not apply for individual awards. If offered institutional funds, and you meet the criteria for a specific donor, you will be matched with them and notified in your first semester.

Our need assessment is a holistic review process which includes consideration of all financial resources as well as other information you included in your admission and need-based applications. Decisions are made by committee and are based on available funding and donor preferences. 

Students who have full-tuition sponsorships are ineligible for merit and need-based awards. Students who have partial sponsorships will automatically be considered for merit-awards and will have the option to apply for need-based awards if invited to interview. Sponsored students can apply for loans to assist with living expenses.

Financial aid awards are final. If you have had a significant change to your financial circumstances or received a more generous offer from another MBA Program please email [email protected]. Increases are rare, and admitted students should make financial plans based on their current financial information.

There are two opportunities for year 2:

1. Need-based: Students who did not apply for need-based aid in year 1 or were not awarded aid for year 1 can apply for need-based aid for their second year in instances of significant changes to their financial circumstances. Students are expected to have borrowed loans in year 1 and require loans for year 2 to be considered. The application will be available in April of your first year.

As our awards do not exceed course-related expenses, they are not taxable.

Most EMBA students pay out of pocket, borrow, or are sponsored by their employer. There are a limited number of modest Executive Promise Fellowships available for those admitted to the Executive MBA Program. These awards will be determined based on the application for admission – no additional application is needed. 

You can find information on external opportunities here. In addition, you should also think of any organizations to which you belong that might have aid funds available such as: religious organizations, fraternal organizations, clubs, athletics, veteran groups, ethnic groups, unions, employers, rotary clubs, etc.

This will depend on the amount of aid you received from CBS and the outside organization as well as your borrowing levels. Please contact our office to discuss your specific scenario.

Students interested in borrowing would do so after being admitted and submitting their admission deposit to CBS. Please make sure to visit the 'Preparing for the MBA' section of your admitted student portal for a timeline and instructions. We generally recommend applying for loans 2-3 months prior to entering the program.

Students can borrow up to the difference between the cost of attendance and other sources of funding. For example: if the cost of attendance is $135,000 and you received $50,000, you can borrow up to $85,000. A student receiving a $90,000 sponsorship would be able to borrow $45,000.

The cost of attendance includes direct costs, charged by Columbia, and indirect costs which include an estimate of living and educational expenses you may incur throughout the program. We provide an up-to-date breakdown of our financial aid budget including tuition, mandatory fees and living expenses on our website. This estimated total represents the maximum amount of funding you can receive through ANY combination of scholarships, fellowships, sponsorship, or student loans.

Domestic students are eligible for both Federal and Private Loan options.

International students are eligible for Private loans. There are both cosigner and no-cosigner options.

Instead of a fixed interest rate, such as 5% or 8%, private loan programs generally have interest rates that are variable (i.e they change periodically). Most are based on either the "Prime Rate", LIBOR, or a "Treasury Bill" rate, such as the "91-day T-Bill", the "13-week T-Bill" or the "52-week T-Bill" rate. Usually, the interest rate on a private loan is based on one of these variable “index” rates plus a set percentage (or "points"), such as "Prime + 3.1 percent." Sometimes the points are referred to as your “margin”. The margin will remain the same for the life of the loan. As all of these indices fluctuate with the market, the interest rates on the loans go up or down. Usually the interest rates on your loans are adjusted quarterly by the lender, although some may adjust more or less frequently. There also may be a different number of points added to the index rate when you are in school versus when you are in repayment.

Please review this chart while deciding which loan to borrow.

All education loans processed or certified by our office will first be paid to Columbia. Loans will be applied to your student account, and in cases where a surplus is formed, you would receive a refund. Refunds are automatically processed within two weeks of the receipt of funds. We recommend all students enroll in Direct Deposit to assure the quickest processing time.

To apply for a Graduate PLUS Loan you would complete a FAFSA (our school code is 002707) as well at the CBS Credit Authorization. Please note you do not apply directly on the government site.

The cost of attendance is designed for a modest student lifestyle. There are certain qualified expenses which may allow us to increase your budget and enable you to increase your student loans. Please submit a Budget Appeal if interested.

Federal loans enter repayment 6 months after graduation. Private loans generally enter repayment 6-9 months after graduation. There is no penalty for early repayment with either loan type. If you are planning on taking a leave of absence, please contact our office to discuss the impact. Our office will offer a loan repayment session in your last semester of enrollment where we will go over loan repayment options and strategies in detail.

You may borrow loans for any semesters of enrollment. Loan borrowing amounts and whether you borrow at all can vary semester-by-semester. Please note that there is an expectation that you borrow if you are receiving need-based aid.

Federal loan borrowers who work in non-profit may be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. All borrowers can explore CBS' Loan Assistance Program which applies to graduates in certain fields of work and income levels.

Columbia reports your enrollment status to the National Student Clearing House. The enrollment feed is sent shortly after the add/drop period at the start of each term, and there should be no action needed on your part. Most lenders collect this data. If your lender does not work with the National Student Clearinghouse you can obtain a certificate of enrollment from SSOL and forward to your lender.

Yes. Consolidation only applies to Federal loans, while refinancing can apply to either Federal or private loans. Consolidation will take a weighted average of your borrowed loan interest rates and amounts, while refinancing is borrowing a new loan at market rate to repay the borrowed loans.

Complete instructions will be available in your admitted student portal. All veterans will need to complete a Request for Certification every semester, and a Yellow Ribbon application once a year, if applicable. The forms are brief.

Yes, we do participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program. The current Yellow Ribbon Program provides $20,000 per academic year with a VA match of the same amount for all who are eligible, for a total of $40,000.

This will depend on your program of study, whether you are participating in the GI Bill® or VR&E, and your eligibility level. Please contact our office to discuss your specific eligibility.

Students receiving VR&E will not be eligible for institutional aid, as their tuition and fees are covered in full. Students receiving the GI Bill® will be considered for merit-based aid and can apply for need-based aid.

All billing is managed by Student Financial Services. You can find the complete billing schedule here.

Please review all payment options.

Sponsored student billing operates on a separate schedule. You will need to submit a Third Party Billing Authorization to allow Columbia to invoice your sponsor directly. Please review the information and submit the form, if applicable.

Information on waiving the insurance can be found here.

Student Financial Services creates a 1098t form for each eligible student, which details your tuition and fees as well as payments for each tax year. You can access your 1098t form online, via SSOL. If you encounter any issues accessing your 1098t form please contact [email protected].

Students in the EMBA Saturday and EMBA Friday/ Saturday programs are eligible for up to 9 free credits in their final semester. Enrollment of over 60 credits and less than 69 credits will automatically be offset. 

Students in the EMBA Global program are eligible for up to 3 free credits in their final semester. Enrollment of over 61.5 credits and less than 64.5 credits will automatically be offset.

Many Columbia employees are eligible for a combination of a tuition benefit. We recommend you contact HR to verify your eligibility, and then reach out to us at [email protected] to discuss the specifics of your billing.

No, during your time at Columbia Business School your aid should come from your home institution, as well as your billing.

When going on exchange your billing and aid will remain the same. If your exchange program is shorter, in duration than the CBS semester it may impact your ability to borrow for living expenses. Please contact our office to discuss.

MBAxMS students will have their aid processed by our office in all four semesters of enrollment. 

All other dual students will have different billing and aid depending on the school they are in residence in, each semester. Please be in contact with the financial aid office several months prior to your semester of residency beginning.