OrsonSwells

Also, how does it differentiate between freshman students and transfer students? Do minority students from low income families recieve any additional benefits?

admissionsgeek

http://www.gs.columbia.edu/financing-your-education

most students to GS are transfer students to some degree continuing studies they put on hold, or transferring directly from another institution. so students are treated based on how long it will take for them to finish the degree - there is no firm 1st year or Senior division. so the idea of freshman doesn't really exist in GS (except the incredibly anachronistic class councils - how can someone who will be at columbia for 6 years because they are working part time be considered a grade in the traditional sense?)

aid is primarily merit-based, so it depends on how strong a student you are coming in, but also how well you do at columbia to maintain that aid

if you are in the armed services, or leaving active duty, you might qualify for the yellow-ribbon program which is other kind of aid.

i think the important thing to note about aid is the following "GS institutional aid system is based primarily on merit, and is specifically designed for students who are usually financially independent and are often adults with families. Consequently the burden of financing an education falls disproportionately on the individual student, unlike the traditional- or dependent-student model, in which parental contributions are considered in the determination of need." your family, therefore, does not factor into your aid, however, they do factor how much you need (your ability to pay) when determining the amount of institutional aid they will give you on merit.

Many students when applying to GS do not notice this fact and therefore have misconceptions about what financial aid will look like.

If you are interested in outside scholarships - you should highly consider applying for those.

and a final thought - if you work at columbia in some capacities, you can go to GS free part time. i have heard of someone finishing their degree part time in 3 years (when including the fact they took summer courses). and most jobs and classes are easy to work around. http://www.gs.columbia.edu/university-employees

i would put it this way - aid at GS is really different because the student body at GS is not made up of dependent-students. so calling it bad is approaching it from a poor angle. would most GS students wish there was more money in the coffers to go around? i think everyone would enthusiastically hope that would be the case. the good news - GS is doing some good strides to increase its merit aid budget. so in considering applying to GS, you should have all of this in mind. further, you should look into other schools and how they might differ with how they dole out aid or how much in total it costs.