Penn and Columbia Financial Aid

[Capitan]

Has anyone gotten a financial aid package from UPenn or Columbia yet? If so, how did it shake out? Mostly loans? Scholarships? I'm hoping to be taken off of the waitlist at either school, and I would like to have a general idea how they distribute money. In either case, I'm sure it's better than my current financial aid pkg at BU!

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[TommyGunn04]

My package from Penn wasn't bad. They gave me quite a bit of free money, and then a special Penn loan, which works like the subsidized Stafford, and the rest was in sub/unsub Stafford loans.

 

[Capitan]

Thanks TG.

so, besides your parent/student contribution did you avoid the private loans?

 

[TommyGunn04]

yes, no private loans! I was pretty happy about it, especially considering what an awful package I had received from Tufts!

 

[Capitan]

I can definitely relate after getting my BU package. Just awful! They estimate the cost at something like 57000 and offered about 10000 of total institutional assistance, 8500 of which was loans. So, apparently, the other 47000 is coming from the max Stafford and the private loans. Needless to say, if I can get into a better school (Penn was my favorite) and have much less debt, that would definitely be a good thing.

 

[drlion06]

the worst you can get at columbia is what i got - it's the full federal stuff and then 12,000 private loans. sucks, but i think it's worth it and they say if you're really taking out private loans (sometimes people get this info and then negotiate to borrow from parents, etc), then they'll re-adjust your package in subsequent years. i think that some people who really needed them got pretty decent packages from p & s, though.