Cost of attendance for Columbia MS-CS

Graduate School
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<p>i20 aside, can anyone give an actual picture of the cost of attendance (tuition + living expenses) for MS in Comp Sc at Columbia University?</p>

<p>This is what I gather so far:</p>

<p>Tuition is $1640 x no. of credits = $55,000
Living expenses approx $2500 x 18 months = $45,000
TOTAL = $110,000</p>

<p>How much can a student make as TA/RA or with part time jobs during the course? Also, how much does one get paid during the internship?</p>

<p>Finally, when the program is done, what is the average starting salary for an MS-CS grad from Columbia?</p>

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<p>I can’t speak specifically to the MS in computer science, but I can speak to living in NYC and working at Columbia.</p>

<p>Graduate assistant jobs on campus can pay around $14/hour. TA positions usually pay by the course, but the amount varies from department to department. My department pays $3,000, but other departments have paid up to $6,000. It just really depends. Part-time jobs in the city typically pay anywhere from $20-30/hour. If you have technical skills, you might be able to freelance for more, but I also have technical skills (statistical analysis) and $30 is the highest I’ve seen.</p>

<p>$2500/month is enough. I’ve lived in upper Manhattan for 6 years on that much.</p>

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<p>Do you have an undergraduate degree in CS? </p>

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<p>@BrownParent - Yes, I have a BTech in Computer Science. </p>

<p>@juillet - So what would be the average amount a Masters student can earn during the entire 18months through TA/RAship/part time jobs and summer internship?</p>

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<p>I do not know what BTech is, sorry, I just searched and it looks like you are overseas? I thought if you were a CS undergrad you would know the job market. And I think you are in a stronger position with a cs undergrad degree. MS students can make 6 to 10k summers in silicon valley, if the undergrad is in CS. I’d imagine something similar in the NYC area is reasonable. But if the internship is through the program it might be completely different–even a nominal amount. Usually you have to get offered a TA/RA as part of your funding package, and that may not be likely. In many colleges only PhD students get that offer.</p>

<p>If you are from overseas, you will have different rules about employment that can affect what offers you get if you want to try to work here, having to get H1B. I’d ask Columbia these questions.</p>

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<p>Sorry about the confusion. Yes, I am an international student. A BTech is a Bachelors in Technology which is similar to an undergraduate degree in engineering. Summer internships as far as I know do not require H1B visa status as they are during the course of study. While Columbia did not offer TA/RAship along with the admission as such, quite a few students get that opportunity after joining. I was looking at a rough idea of how much an MS student can earn during the entire course to set off the expenses.</p>

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<p>Which college did you go to in India. As far as I know BTech is an Indian concept.</p>

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<p>I know you don’t need H1B for internships. That was mentioned for your post grad employment question. Did you search Quora, lot of Indians posting there may have experience with post MS salaries. What I have seen vary wildly. </p>

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<p>I’m not sure if that’s the most cost effective plan regardless of the Columbia brand name. Computer Science is a STEM after all and unless your planning on doing a PhD and going into academia, it doesn’t matter all that much.</p>

<p>With your plan, you’re $110,000 in the hole!</p>

<p>I would suggest looking into working full time and completing the MS CS part-time at a university (such as a state university) that costs much less. I’m currently working full time (at most 40 hours a week) and enrolled in a part-time MS CS program at a state university. Sure it may take me 4-5 years to complete, but the opportunity cost of a full time MS CS program is too high.</p>

<p>Also, a MS CS is equivalent to approximately 2 years of work experience. It takes approximately 2 years to complete an MS CS full time. You aren’t really “saving” that much time. Now if you work full time and do a MS CS part-time, you’re saving a bit of time because in 5 years you’ll have 5 years of work experience + 2 years of equivalent work experience due to education. Essentially, you’ll get the benefit of 7 years in a real time span of 5 years without the opportunity cost.</p>

<p>That’s just my 2 cents.</p>

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<p>@Polo08816 - I actually have about 7.5 yrs work ex. And I have admits from Cornell and Columbia for CS Masters. Im trying to figure out if I can make up the cost of the 3rd semester at Columbia through internship and part time work/ TA/ RAship during the 1st two semesters.</p>

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<p>Have you considered the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Their CS grad program is considered one of the best, and ranks much more highly than Columbia’s program. </p>

<p>If you are considering PhD programs later on, or are planning to apply to major tech companies, UIUC has a strong reputation.</p>

<p>Plus, I believe tuition and cost of living are quite a bit less than at Columbia.</p>

<p>Just a thought. </p>

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<p>I don’t know. It entirely depends. BrownParent (who is much more knowledgeable in this area than I) says you can make $6-10,000 for the summer. $10,000 for the summer is about equivalent to $20/hour, 40 hours a week, for 12 weeks. $6,000 for the summer is about $12/hour for 12 weeks.</p>

<p>Assuming that you work 20 hours a week at $15/hour during the school year, and that’s like 30 weeks, that’s like $9,000. And if you get paid at the high end over the summer, that’s roughly $19,000. That’s assuming the top end of the estimate.</p>

<p>That’s not enough to pay for a third semester at Columbia, though. First of all, even if you saved every single penny it wouldn’t be enough (a semester of tuition here is like $20-25,000, and living expenses for one semester is about $10,000).</p>

<p>But your summer stipend is going to have to be at least partially spent on room and board wherever your summer internship is, and you will probably spend most of your internship salary on room and board here in NYC. $15/hour, 20 hours a week is about $1200/month, which isn’t enough to live on in NYC. Even if you made $25/hour, working 20 hours a week will give you $2,000/month, which you could potentially live on if you lived very frugally with some roommates. But this is all before taxes, so take that into account. I’m not sure how taxes work for int’l students.</p>

<p>Still, it might reduce the amount that you have to borrow. If 3 semesters of Columbia tuition is ~$70,000 and you make $20/hour (so $1600/month gross) and are able to borrow only, let’s say, $15,000 in living expenses to supplement your internship income, then you’ve got your costs down to $85,000. Which still may be too much.</p>

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<p>Going into that much debt for a brand name MS CS degree seems like a bad course of action to me…</p>

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<p>True… the costs are mind boggling. But Columbia is a brand name and I like their MS-CS curriculum a lot. Still, I also have an admit from Cornell for their 1yr MEng course which is equally good if not better. So its a tough choice for me. Cornell or Columbia…</p>

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<p>…and here I thought the purpose of going to a brand name was to somehow get an edge over your peers in the marketplace. What good does a brand name do for you if it requires substantial debt and provides you with an insignificant edge in a market place that has so much demand and such little supply?</p>

<p>To me, getting a MS CS is simply a “check the block” type of thing to get more money out of your current employer. </p>