<p>“a student must asked to be released, he/she cannot just say well i wont go to columbia because i don’t feel like it.”</p>
<p>Where financial aid is concerned, Columbia is a common app school, and there is nothing in the common app agreement about asking for a release. Indeed, schools already have all the family’s financial data they need, so there’s no basis for the school to approve or deny the release. And now imagine that a school somehow did NOT approve the release, the student is somehow compelled to attend, and would then be expelled when the bill cannot be paid. Imagine the horrible publicity if a school pulled this.</p>