If you haven’t bought groceries in the last two weeks because Westside isn’t in Butler, you’re in luck. The Office of Financial Aid is hosting a “Meet, Eat, And Greet” tonight from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Satow Room. This time frame is also right before the library dinner-time turnover, so you may have […]

CAFA, the Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid that governs CC/SEAS, has been made anew. It used to be under the Dean, but now it’s under the Provost. It used to have student reps, but now instead has professional school reps. There should be student reps on CAFA. Please make that happen, “student leaders.” Not […]

Deantini and Dean Marinaccio at a staff meeting (metaphorically) Update, 8/15 1:30 pm: Deantini has emailed us back to explain why he decided to move Financial Aid and Admissions out of the Division of Student Affairs: I wanted Admissions and Financial Aid reporting directly to me. Whom we admit to the College is the most […]

Barnard has a severe housing shortage. On Wednesday, residents learned that Plimpton rooms which in the spring were singles will this fall be doubles. Today, a student forwarded us an email from Barnard Res Life explaining that Barnard students returning from leave, and possibly transfers as well, may not get on-campus housing at all—may be […]

Earlier this morning, The Eye published an article about shakeups in the upper echelons of the Columbia administration. The piece contained a couple of new nuggets in this seemingly never-ending story—including a summary of the infamous McKinsey report and changes to financial aid—but it can be difficult to keep track of everything that’s happened since […]

It’s another scandalous day in the Ivy League. Patrick Witt, the Yale quarterback who was lauded as a sports hero after he opted to play in the Harvard-Yale game rather than sit for his Rhodes Scholarship interview, has been accused of sexual assault. Turns out the Rhodes committee found out about the (unofficial) accusation and suspended […]

Senior Satow Correspondents Sarah Ngu and Maren Killackey report from this week’s CCSC meeting. Topics covered at the meeting include the financial aid office, Bacchanal and their debts, along with various other policies along the way. FinAid: Student Services Rep Karishma Habbu has continued meetings with administrators from the Undergraduate Office of Financial Aid. It appears the Undergrad […]

Maren Killackey and Sarah Ngu report in on CCSC’s doings Student Services Rep Karishma Habbu continues her mission to better the College’s financial aid advising system. She will be meeting with a financial aid office rep this week to discuss a two-tiered approach to tackling the issue: one involving student feedback and the other student […]

Although the absurdity of the debt ceiling debate may have made you think that politics are completely out of touch with reality, the Budget Control Act has some very real and important implications for Columbia students receiving financial aid. First the good news: Pell Grants will continue to be funded through 2013, without a reduction […]

Just passing on word that tomorrow, August 1st, will mark the beginning of the second summer registration period. According to an email from Barry the registration wizard Kane, registration will “open on Monday morning, August 1st, at 9:30 a.m.”  (Wait what? It’s August!) You can add and drop courses till Friday, August 12th. We noticed a couple […]

While much of the hubbub in Washington in recent days has centered on the passage of the healthcare bill, students have yet another reason to celebrate: the passage of a bill set to thoroughly reform the student loan system. The Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act will, in effect, remove the middleman from the student loan […]

 Image courtesy of Facebook In a school-wide email announcement earlier this afternoon, Dean of Student Affairs Kevin Shollenberger announced that MIT Financial Aid Director Daniel Barkowitz will be Columbia’s new Dean of Financial Aid and Associate Dean of Student Affairs. “A financial aid professional with over twenty years of experience in higher education – most […]

Harvard rejects can always feel bad that Ted Kaczynski was accepted, and now Columbia has its very own esteemed criminal alumni. Esther Reed, a Montana woman who attended Columbia for two years under an assumed identity, was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison for identity theft. Starting in 2004, Reed spent two years studying […]

Since federal subsidies have already led to horrors like Constitution Day, one wonders what silly conditions will be extracted now that Barnard will be issuing more loans directly through the federal government.  Yes, Barnard has now joined the Federal Direct Loan program, which is already used by schools such as Harvard, Brown, Amherst, Williams, Cornell […]

A tipster has just forwarded the following PrezBo Communique to Bwog, in which your President assures recipients that despite the terrifyingly awful economy—PrezBo refers to it as “a landscape largely defined by uncertainty,” but a crisis by any other name…—Columbia will be just fine, thank you. For one thing, the University is still ahead of […]