Scholarships
Columbia Business School offers MBA students partial-tuition scholarships to both domestic and international. Scholarships are mostly need-based, however, certain named scholarships have a merit component or have specific criteria designated by the donor.
- January Entry: admitted students will have access to the need-based application, in their admitted student portal, with a due date of October 15, or two weeks from the date of admission, whichever is later. The date of admission is defined as the date on which the Admissions Office notified the student via e-mail.
- August Entry: applicants invited to interview will have access to the need-based application, in their application status page, with a due date two weeks from the date of invitation to interview.
Award amounts range from $10,000–$30,000 for those who qualify and based on funds available (amounts can sometimes be higher in certain circumstances). Of those who apply, about half receive a need-based scholarship and the average award is approximately $20,000 for those selected. Although the percentage of recipients is high, students should not assume they will be awarded a need-based scholarship as these awards are not guaranteed. Awards are generally renewed for the second year of study.
To assess a student's eligibility for need-based aid, the School takes into consideration all possible resources (including cash, savings, investments, money market, IRA and retirement accounts, CDs, trust funds, real estate equity, GI and Social Security benefits, income of student and spouse, other familial resources, income tax refunds, sponsorships from companies, as well as prior educational debt levels). We also take into account merit-based awards made possible by the Admissions office. Additional information might be requested to best assess a candidate's ability to pay and late applications are subject to a different process.