Columbia University
in the City of New York
Private Research University in New York, NY. Six-year graduation rate 96%. Median 10-year earnings $102,491.
Ten-year median earnings of $102,491 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. 96% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Graduates carry a median of $21,500 in debt — in line with the national norm. It also moves people — 3.1% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.21 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 96% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Admit rate 4% — heavily selective, limited transfer slots
Admissions
This is a highly selective admit: 4% of applicants receive an offer. 60,115 students applied, a pool deep enough to make the acceptance rate meaningful. Yield is high — 65% of admitted students go on to enroll, well above the typical rate. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 45% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 740–780 | 680 (45%) |
| SAT Math | 770–800 | |
| ACT Composite | 34–35 | 267 (18%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Columbia University in the City of New York →Academics
A 96% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. First-year retention of 98% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. At 6:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions. The undergraduate population is 9,111 — big enough for a real range of programs, small enough to navigate.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 8,899 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $22,520 annually once grants are applied. The income table below is the number that matters — $4,570 at $0–30k versus $50,621 at $110k+. 56% of students receive grant aid, averaging $56,004 — common but not automatic. 14% borrow federally — a low rate, though it covers federal loans only.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 1,500 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $4,570 |
| $30–48k | $2,275 |
| $48–75k | $5,866 |
| $75–110k | $11,782 |
| $110k+ | $50,621 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,249 of these 8,899 students, totalling $11,728,059 — an average of $9,390 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (New York County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
Probation or Equivalent or a More Severe Status: Warning (Fails to meet agency standards for initial or renewed accreditation); School has an accreditation issue
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)