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NOVEMBER 11, 1999 B-SCHOOL Q&A: FINANCIAL AID Meet Columbia's Financial Aid Director A Conversation with Columbia Business School's Linda Meehan, Assistant Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid
Q: Linda, the financial-aid arena is quite complex. To start, could you define some of the terminology used in the area, such as "fellowship," "scholarship aid," and "assistantship?" A: Sure, I think each school needs to define the terminology specific for the school. At Columbia, we describe "financial aid" in its generality as all forms of funding used to help finance the cost of education, such as fellowships, loans, and scholarships. We define "fellowship" as a merit award based on demonstrated academic excellence, professional promise, and personal merit. But it is definitely a merit award. Meanwhile, the word "scholarship aid" refers to a need-based award that is given. That's how we differentiate financial aid, the broader umbrella. The term "assistantship" is a stipend -- usually quite minimal -- that is given to "TAs," or teaching assistantships, and "RAs," who work for professors who select them. How were fellowships, scholarship aid, and assistantships distributed among the Class of 2000? Well, our fellowships are really awarded on a merit basis, and there's quite a process that goes with them. The selection committee within the admission committee will nominate students for very specific fellowships, and then the nominated applications go to a faculty member. The faculty will select from that nominated group and nominate another smaller group to the donors, and they go through a final selection that way. In some cases, the students are interviewed, and in other cases, they are not. Approximately how much of each class receives fellowship aid? About 5%. In terms of financial aid, including all the various forms of funding, about 70% receive federal loans. The scholarship is given out, as I said, on a need basis. It sounds like your office effectively hand picks which accepted students will be considered for fellowship aid. Can students do anything to increase their chances of receiving financial support? Sure they can. When they apply, we have a space on their application -- it's actually on a very large label that we use with our application -- where they can check off that they'd like to be considered for aid. When we go to our new Web application next year, there will be a place that one can check for fellowship or check for scholarship consideration. By so checking those boxes or indicating on the new Web-site form that they are applying for those, they automatically get put into consideration. If they don't check it, by the way, we sometimes will pull a file out during the review process that is so outstanding that we will consider it regardless. But generally speaking, students self-select themselves to be considered for scholarship, and then they go through two separate processes. One is the admissions process, the second one would be for fellowship selection. Given the explosion in B-school applications and rising admissions standards, is it getting more competitive on the fellowship front? I would say that that's true. I think, as you know, we've had an increase [in applications] over the past nine years [that] is kind of extraordinary here at Columbia. The other thing that has been extraordinary is the increase in the quality of the applicants. So, yes, the competition for those fellowships has gotten much stronger. Some of the fellowships are rather specific about what they're looking for, so that again is a self-selecting group -- they kind of fall into one category or another that we're looking for. But remember, we're also looking at very few fellowships that are, indeed, awarded here. There are roughly 30 to 35 available, and that varies from one year to the next. They're listed on the admissions application that you can find on our Web site. How does the financial-aid office determine how much aid to give to a particular applicant? We have at Columbia strictly need-based scholarship, which is based on your assets. If money is given as part of scholarship, it can be reconsidered the next year, depending on how your finances might change. And generally speaking, your finances will change because you're no longer earning money while at business school. So you may actually have your award increased. For the most part, people start their lives at Columbia Business School after having had successful careers somewhere. So they have some assets. They file their forms, they're looked at, and based on their assets, they either qualify for scholarship or not. If they do not qualify for scholarship, then the loan program comes in to help them finance. If they do qualify for need-based scholarship, it goes for one year based upon their income and assets of the preceding year. In their second year, most students have not been working, though they have had summer earnings which may help to decrease the amount that they may need in loans in the second year. But if that isn't the case because they had other obligations or what-have-you, [the drastic change in income] could actually increase the amount of need-based aid they receive the next year. Each year is totally separate from the preceding year, so students reapply for scholarship aid for their second year. Many schools discourage their students from taking on an assistantship during their first year. Is that the case at Columbia? We certainly discourage people from doing any kind of assistantship in their first term. We really believe that they'll have enough to do to keep them busy and want them immersed in the program. We would follow that through to the second term as well. Occasionally, there will be a student with a very particular area of interest who develops a relationship with a faculty member who may be doing research. And the two of them will somehow connect in a way that we know nothing about, and they may end up doing something like that. But I think those numbers are rare. Among the challenges international students face is figuring out how to finance their eductions amidst the dearth of scholarships and loans available to them. Some banks, for example, don't feel comfortable giving money to international students because they might be living in emerging countries. What types of aid is available for foreign students at Columbia Business School? International students are eligible to be considered for merit fellowships, just like any other applicant can be who checks the box. They can also use some of the private educational loan programs as long as they're credit-worthy and a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident cosigns the loan. For those people who are credit-worthy and have a cosigner, they really have not had a hard time. But I think the difficulty comes when there is no cosigner. Is that a problem that you see popping up frequently? Not frequently, but it does pop up. We have been exploring negotiating with a couple of banks about having no-cosign-loan programs. I know of a couple of schools that do have those programs, and we've been looking into that for the last few months, but have yet to make a decision on it [Editor's note: In 1998, Harvard Business School created a customized loan program for its international students along with The Student Loan Corporation, a subsidiary of Citibank.] What does your office do for international students who are having a hard time finding a cosigner and are very much in need of financial aid to attend Columbia? Again, it has not been a tremendous issue for us. Yes, every year it does pop up, but it is not a major problem for an overriding number of students. When it does occur, my director of financial aid will direct students to certain banks that will counsel them through who possibly might cosign on their loans. If an international student is working with a large multinational company, very often the company can offer assistance or connections for them. We try and be a little bit creative and quiz students, asking whether they've looked here or talked to this or that person. Many times they're successful that way. There are also some Web sites that are available. Unfortunately, most of the grants and the foundations really deal with undergraduate education. Not too many deal with the graduate level. But we'll direct them to those Web sites and a couple of people have found things. One is called www.FinAid.org. Another is called www.nasfaa.org. There is also www.GMAT.org. And they are actually all linked to our Web site [located at the bottom of the Q&A]. In addition, there are a couple of publications that list foundation grants, such as Foundation Grants to Individuals. There is also the Foundation Center which is located at 79 Fifth Avenue in New York, and people can contact the center for literature on what's out there. You have to do a little legwork, and sometimes you'll find things. And there's one other option available to foreign students. Every year, we receive mailings from companies or commerce commissions trying to attract MBA students who originate from certain countries. To entice students, they'll offer to sponsor a student from France or what-have-you. They'll send us brochures about themselves and ask that we distribute them, and we'll definitely post them in the Financial Aid Office. But these types of offers are really unpredictable. B-school tuition is on the upswing. In fact, at $27,700, Columbia is the most expensive business school in Business Week's Top 25. Is the cost of a management education moving beyond the reach of a growing number of aspiring MBAs? I think that depends upon the economic conditions in the marketplace. If employment drops or companies aren't hiring in a certain area, or salaries start to decline, then yes, I think we'll definitely experience a backslide there, and people will indeed be looking for more aid. In your experience as director of the Financial Aid Office, has any applicant not been able to attend Columbia because of financial duress? Oh sure. I must say, though, knock on wood, that it happens very rarely. But usually, I would say at least one, maybe two admits run into that problem, though I'm just kind of recalling that. I'm not running from a data base or anything, so I can't verify that at this point. Looking to the future, does Columbia plan to carve out more scholarship aid for future students? Our dean tries very hard to put the assets into the education facilities, so I don't see at this time that happening, no. What overriding advice do you have for the legion of business-school aspirants looking for the best ways to finance their degrees? I've done a number of workshops with prospectives considering applying to business programs, and I always say that the thing you want to do is cut up your charge card. People really need to plan ahead. Going to business school isn't a decision that someone should make on the spot. People need to be proactive and manage their finances when they graduate from college, being careful not to incur large amounts of debt. They need to pay off their undergraduate loans and then start a savings account to help them when they decide to apply to B-school. I would suggest also really thinking about the other resources available, whether it be a company or your family. For example, many companies have reimbursement programs in place if they decide not to sponsor you up front. Students really need to look into those types of opportunities before accepting a [job] offer. Thank you very much, Linda. I appreciate your talking with me today. You're welcome. If you'd like to learn more about Columbia Business School's financial aid program, you can visit the school's Web site at: www.columbia.edu/cu/business/admissions/  Nadav Enbar  | | Learn about your online education options |
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