Columbia Class of 2018 Forum

[lukewarmest]

U mad?

Even accepting your underwater probabilities, we can still be scornful, do our best to extract a social price from such people, and at the very least try and build environments where we don't merely give folks a free pass on how they exploit their privelege, no?

First of all, everyone exploits their privilege. I do. You do. Everyone does. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that we should all just accept that some people are more privileged than others and not work to change it, I'm just saying that the concept of exploitation of privilege is so overused that the power of the original meaning is becoming diluted. Everybody who has the opportunity to attend law school has more privilege than most other people in the world. One privileged 0L talking about how they're less privileged than a wealthier 0L rings hollow to me.

Second, I don't believe that scorn is an effective method of causing behavior change. At best, it forces people to hide their thoughts and actions to avoid scorn, but it doesn't actually change the way they think. At worst, in cases like this where people without power are scorning people with power, the scorn is viewed as jealousy and simply ignored.

Plus, making no judgment about the effectiveness of the proposal, it's a nice reminder that individual action taken in isolation does have a practical effect in other parts of the system. What we as individuals do really does matter (despite our inclination to say something like, if I don't take the money, somebody else will).

The whole point of my original comment was to make a judgment about the effectiveness of the proposal. The whole point. Why would you take that away from me?

That being said, I think you're wrong here. One individual turning down their scholarship has little to no effect on the "system." It might have an effect on one or two other people, but it will have no appreciable effect on the system as a whole. If you want to test this, feel free to turn down your scholarships and then let me know in a few months or years what effect your decision had on the way that law schools offer scholarships to incoming students.

So I think the proposal is not as uselessly raised as you suggest, and I think your dismissal does more than just run-over a particular bad idea; it misses and discredits some interesting implications that are worth dwelling on, especially in the hyper priveleged/oblivious/fake progressive law school context.

Sometimes a bad idea is just a bad idea. And I don't get bending over backwards to try to inject some sort of deeper meaning into a poorly-thought-out proposal that was obviously made without any of your "interesting implications" in mind.

blah

[tk17]

...

Edit: You know what? Nevermind. Feel how you want to feel. Best of luck to you in all of your endeavors.

[Tiago Splitter]

so i didn't turn in any forms because there was no way i would qualify for need aid, turning in my parents' information - worth it to ask them if they are still accepting applications, given the above information about how it's not strictly need-based?

why would you accept aid money you don't need? have your parents pay, let columbia give to some poor person who doesn't have rich parents to pay.

This was your original question. The answer is that a lot of people's parents make too much for them to get any need aid but their parents won't be contributing anything, or far less than the cost of attendance, to their law school education. For these people, merit aid is all they can hope for. Unfortunately, Columbia does not give merit aid unless you also fill out the need aid forms.

The fact that someone's parents make too much for need aid means little regarding how much debt this applicant will be graduating with.

[RSN]

so i didn't turn in any forms because there was no way i would qualify for need aid, turning in my parents' information - worth it to ask them if they are still accepting applications, given the above information about how it's not strictly need-based?

why would you accept aid money you don't need? have your parents pay, let columbia give to some poor person who doesn't have rich parents to pay.

This was your original question. The answer is that a lot of people's parents make too much for them to get any need aid but their parents won't be contributing anything, or far less than the cost of attendance, to their law school education. For these people, merit aid is all they can hope for. Unfortunately, Columbia does not give merit aid unless you also fill out the need aid forms.

The fact that someone's parents make too much for need aid means little regarding how much debt this applicant will be graduating with.

Stated in a different way, the gap between having too much in income/assets to qualify for financial aid, and having enough to substantially contribute to the cost of law school, is sizable. It's by no means a binary determination.

But let's try to keep this thread on track and talk about Columbia. Where is everyone thinking about living?

[curlietop86]

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[Four Winds]

But let's try to keep this thread on track and talk about Columbia. Where is everyone thinking about living?

I'm planning to live off campus, but I get the sense from talking to current students at the preview that that is fairly uncommon. Is anyone else looking off-campus?

[ChemEng1642]

But let's try to keep this thread on track and talk about Columbia. Where is everyone thinking about living?

Couple's on campus if I can! I'm worried I wasn't specific in my housing app though...

[tk17]

But let's try to keep this thread on track and talk about Columbia. Where is everyone thinking about living?

I'm planning to live off campus, but I get the sense from talking to current students at the preview that that is fairly uncommon. Is anyone else looking off-campus?

Brooklyn!

It's a hike, but I love my current apartment and my landlord keeps forgetting to raise my rent.

[GreenEggs]

I thought I saw that you could get a UAH efficiency/studio for like $1400 a month. If I can snag that I'd be pretty happy. If not, I'm gonna go with the apartment share.

[Clemenceau]

If I'm at cls next year I'll probably be doing whatever the cheapest on campus option is

In my free time I'll also likely be collecting aluminum cans, selling plasma, etc.

[GreenEggs]

If I'm at cls next year I'll probably be doing whatever the cheapest on campus option is

In my free time I'll also likely be collecting aluminum cans, selling plasma, etc.

Why stop there? Eggs/Sperm pays big.

[ChemEng1642]

I thought I saw that you could get a UAH efficiency/studio for like $1400 a month. If I can snag that I'd be pretty happy. If not, I'm gonna go with the apartment share.

I saw at studio at ASW that was $1200/month utilities included

[RSN]

I thought I saw that you could get a UAH efficiency/studio for like $1400 a month. If I can snag that I'd be pretty happy. If not, I'm gonna go with the apartment share.

I saw at studio at ASW that was $1200/month utilities included

Was it in Hoboken? Damn

[Indifference]

To start off, I don't mean to sound ungrateful or greedy here. Sorry if it comes off that way. Also my bad if this is the wrong place to ask this... I was considering posting this in the applicant thread but figured it might be discourteous to those waiting for a decision, or on the WL.

I was offered a Butler and am considering it, but the COL in NYC is insane (as is COA at CLS). Was wondering if there is any precedent for receiving need aid with a scholly, or if sending in Need Access is a waste of time/unlikely to help. Would be paying for this loan financed, on my own, so the Butler is amazing, and I'm excited, but would love to be a little less in debt when I'm done.

Thanks all.

[curlietop86]

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[ChemEng1642]

I thought I saw that you could get a UAH efficiency/studio for like $1400 a month. If I can snag that I'd be pretty happy. If not, I'm gonna go with the apartment share.

I saw at studio at ASW that was $1200/month utilities included

Was it in Hoboken? Damn

Nope it was like a 6 minute walk from the law school. It's because Columbia Law super subsidizes places that they rent out

[ub3r]

a lot of people's parents make too much for them to get any need aid but their parents won't be contributing anything, or far less than the cost of attendance, to their law school education.

sup

[ChemEng1642]

a lot of people's parents make too much for them to get any need aid but their parents won't be contributing anything, or far less than the cost of attendance, to their law school education.

sup

[lawapp1]

Have most people who did not receive a named scholly heard back about "need-based" aid already?

[wonka]

I don't think anyone has heard back about non-named aid, yet.

[RSN]

I thought I saw that you could get a UAH efficiency/studio for like $1400 a month. If I can snag that I'd be pretty happy. If not, I'm gonna go with the apartment share.

I saw at studio at ASW that was $1200/month utilities included

Was it in Hoboken? Damn

Nope it was like a 6 minute walk from the law school. It's because Columbia Law super subsidizes places that they rent out

Wait really? Which building?

[Eladriel]

I don't think anyone has heard back about non-named aid, yet.

I've seen no reports. I think in last year's thread the first report of aid was April 3 (emailed PDF of a letter) followed by a mass of emails on April 7/8.

Also, hello all! I'm 90% sure CLS is where I'm ending up.

[middlebear]

I don't think anyone has heard back about non-named aid, yet.

I've seen no reports. I think in last year's thread the first report of aid was April 3 (emailed PDF of a letter) followed by a mass of emails on April 7/8.

Also, hello all! I'm 90% sure CLS is where I'm ending up.

They said at the FinAid talk today that they want the first letters to go out next week.

[drtygrty]

But let's try to keep this thread on track and talk about Columbia. Where is everyone thinking about living?

I'm planning to live off campus, but I get the sense from talking to current students at the preview that that is fairly uncommon. Is anyone else looking off-campus?

Brooklyn!

It's a hike, but I love my current apartment and my landlord keeps forgetting to raise my rent.

+1

I live in Brooklyn and REALLY don't want to move. Everyone at ASW seemed to warn really strongly against commuting for social reasons, though. Brooklyn study group?

[andthenIwaslike]

I really can't believe how late Columbia gets all its non-named merit aid out. There seem to be a lot of you who are already committed to Columbia, which is awesome, but you can't all be Butlers and Hamiltons - just out of curiosity, how many people are expecting sizable need aid, or sizable merit aid, or have just made their peace with loans? I'd love to be able to say I'm planning to go to Columbia, but until I hear back from Fin Aid I'm assuming I'd have to pay sticker, in which case hello Charlottesville.