Financial Aid Information

Award letters have already been mailed if your financial aid application was complete. If you have been accepted to medical school recently, you should know that it can take 2-3 weeks for us to receive the information from your FAFSA and from the Need Access form if you are applying for school funds.  Award letters will be sent as soon as your financial aid officer has reviewed your application. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Sandra Garcia, Associate Director, at sb64@columbia.edu, or (212)305-4100.

As mentioned in your award letter and in our Financial Aid Handbook, it is important for you to return the Financial Aid Acceptance Form as soon as possible.  Also, if you have received a tentative award letter due to missing IRS forms or because you have been selected for Verification, you must submit these forms before aid is released. Please act promptly on loan instructions and any other request for additional information contained in your award letter.

Federal legislation and regulation require that the school conduct an “entrance interview” for students receiving any educational loans. The information presented will include figuring your cash flow during the academic year, understanding our billing system, and other topics of financial interest. The “entrance interview” is a 2 hour meeting held during Orientation Week. Attendance is mandatory if you are taking any educational loans or if you think you may at any point later in the year. More details will be given out with the registration packet.  If you are awaded a CU Loan (where the school is the lender), there will also be representatives from Student Financial Services with the promissory notes for you to sign.

For additional information for the Financial Aid Entrance Interview, please visit http://cumc.columbia.edu/student/finaid/pdf/ENTRNET08.pdf