An Ivy League research university in Manhattan, admitting 3.99% of applicants with median graduate earnings of $102,491.
New York, New York
Thinking about Columbia University in the City of New York, a college in New York where more students graduate in Business than anything else? The four things worth knowing are what it actually costs after aid, whether you would get in, whether students finish, and what they earn after they do.
Columbia University is a private R1 research university in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, founded in 1754 as King's College. It enrolls 8,973 undergraduates and 26,009 graduate students across Columbia College, the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), and a broad range of professional and graduate schools including Law, Business, Medicine, Journalism, and Public Health.
Social sciences account for the largest share of bachelor's degrees, followed by engineering, computer science, and multidisciplinary programs. All Columbia College undergraduates complete the Core Curriculum, a required two-year sequence in literature, philosophy, art, and science that is central to Columbia's academic identity. Columbia holds a Doctoral University: Very High Research Activity (R1) Carnegie classification and is accredited through the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).
Official website: columbia.edu
UCD scores every college on four pillars: Outcomes, Value, Affordability, and Selectivity. Within peer group A (four-year selective institutions), Columbia scores 88.23 overall, rated Strong. Outcomes (98.51) and Selectivity (99.60) are near-perfect, reflecting a 96.1% six-year graduation rate and one of the most selective admissions pools in the country.
Value scores 90.00, reflecting the combination of ten-year earnings of $102,491 and an average net price of $21,590. Affordability scores 33.83, held back by the highest tuition in the Ivy League ($71,845) and a median debt level ($21,500) that is higher than at most peer universities. All scores use verified federal data only.
Columbia is among the most selective universities in the country, admitting 3.99% of applicants. Columbia is test-optional; submitting SAT or ACT scores is not required and the choice not to submit is not penalized. Students who submit scores typically average 1,553 on the SAT, with the middle 50% scoring between 34 and 35 on the ACT.
Columbia offers Early Decision, a binding option with a November 1 deadline; students admitted Early Decision are required to enroll and withdraw other applications. The Regular Decision deadline is January 1. Applicants choose to apply to either Columbia College (liberal arts) or the School of Engineering and Applied Science; the two schools have separate admission processes and somewhat different admit rates.
Acceptance rate over the last five admission cycles. The trend tells you whether Columbia University in the City of New York is getting harder, easier, or staying about the same.
Columbia charges $71,845 in tuition, the highest of any Ivy League university. Room and board adds $17,580, bringing the estimated total cost of attendance to approximately $92,000 before aid. Columbia meets 100% of demonstrated financial need for all admitted U.S. students, with no loans in financial aid packages. The average net price after all grants and scholarships is $21,590. For families earning under $30,000, the average net price is $4,570. For families earning between $30,001 and $48,000, the average net price is $2,275. For families earning above $110,000, the average net price is $50,621.
The average hides a wide spread by household income, so it is worth estimating what a family at your income would actually pay before treating this as the price.
Published cost of attendance, the sticker price before grants and scholarships. Most students underestimate room & board and other expenses.
Application fee: $85 (one-time, due at submission)
Aid is need-based, so net price varies by family income. Here's what each bracket typically pays after grants and scholarships.
Cumulative federal-loan debt across the full borrowing distribution. The 10th and 90th percentiles bracket the typical range; the median sits in the middle.
Median federal-loan debt at graduation broken down by demographic. Each slice's size is proportional to the dollar amount that group typically borrows.
Columbia completes the large majority of the students it enrolls. The six-year graduation rate is 96.1% for full-time, first-time bachelor's-seeking students. The four-year rate is 78.2%, lower than at most peer Ivies, which partly reflects the demanding Core Curriculum and the number of students who take leaves or change programs. First-year retention stands at 97.59%. Columbia's location in New York City connects undergraduates to internship, research, and cultural opportunities that are not available at campus-centered universities, and the city effectively extends the academic environment beyond the Morningside Heights campus.
Completion and earnings carry the most weight in this college's score, and how the UCD Score weighs each measure sets out exactly how they are combined.
Columbia graduates earn at the top of the national distribution. Median earnings are $88,535 six years after first enrolling and $102,491 at ten years. At the ten-year mark, 88.08% of former students earn more than a typical high school graduate.
Columbia's federal loan rate of 13.71% is notably higher than at peer Ivy League universities, and median debt at graduation ($21,500) is also higher. This reflects a combination of the highest sticker price in the Ivy League and an aid program that, while meeting 100% of demonstrated need, results in more borrowing than at peers with larger endowments.
Median annual earnings 6, 8, and 10 years after students first enrolled.
Mean annual earnings 10 years after entry, segmented by demographic. Reveals gaps the headline median can't show.
Median earnings for female grads ten years after first enrolling here.
Median earnings for male grads ten years after first enrolling here.
Earnings of grads from the bottom-third of family incomes at entry.
Earnings of grads from the middle-third of family incomes at entry.
Earnings of grads from the top-third of family incomes at entry.
Share of completer-cohort borrowers paying down at least $1 of principal at the 1-, 3-, 5-, and 7-year mark. Climbing rates show graduates settling into careers and managing debt; flat or declining rates are a warning.
Columbia enrolls 8,973 undergraduates on its Morningside Heights campus, with significant additional facilities in Washington Heights (Columbia University Irving Medical Center). White students account for 28.7% of undergraduates; Asian 18.71%, Hispanic 15.39%, and Black 7.51%. International students make up approximately 15% of undergraduate enrollment, reflecting Columbia's global positioning and New York City location. Twenty-three percent of undergraduates receive Pell grants, and 25% are first-generation college students. Columbia's location in Manhattan means that off-campus life, internships, and career access are woven into the undergraduate experience in a way that distinguishes it from peer Ivies located in smaller cities.
Undergraduate student body composition reported to the US Department of Education.
Where students live, learn, and connect at Columbia University in the City of New York. The campus setting, housing profile, and signals that shape day-to-day life here.
After that comes the national picture for Engineering graduates, which shows what the field pays across every college rather than just this one.
Columbia University in the City of New York offers an extensive catalog of programs: 301 distinct programs across 24 majors. Below are its strongest majors, each with flagship programs and typical earnings. Open a major to explore it in depth, or browse the full program catalog.
Columbia operates at a 6:1 student-to-faculty ratio. 42.68% of instruction is delivered by full-time faculty, significantly lower than at peer Ivy League universities, reflecting the large number of adjunct instructors, lecturers, and postdoctoral researchers who teach at Columbia. Instructional spending per full-time equivalent student is $110,371 per year. The endowment stands at $14.78 billion, smaller than peer Ivies, which contributes to a financial aid program that, while meeting full demonstrated need, results in higher average debt than at schools with larger endowments.
4,683 instructional faculty across 5 ranks. The rank mix shows how many senior faculty are teaching versus contingent or junior staff, with average salary equated to a 9-month contract.
| Rank | Faculty Count | Share | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Professors | 1,471 | 31% | $253,047 |
| Associate Professors | 817 | 17% | $172,426 |
| Assistant Professors | 1,767 | 38% | $145,322 |
| Instructors | 114 | 2% | $214,468 |
| Lecturers | 514 | 11% | $104,670 |
Columbia's strongest data points are its Outcomes (98.51), Selectivity (99.60), and New York City location, which provides unmatched access to finance, media, law, medicine, and the arts. The Core Curriculum is one of the most rigorous required undergraduate sequences in the country and produces graduates with broad intellectual foundations.
The challenges are cost and debt: Columbia charges the highest tuition in the Ivy League ($71,845), and median debt at graduation ($21,500) and federal loan rate (13.71%) are both notably higher than at peer Ivies. Best fit for students who want Ivy League academics in a major city, who plan to work in industries concentrated in New York, and who will apply for financial aid; students who do not qualify for substantial aid face the highest sticker price in the Ivy League.
Read against a single profile these cut both ways, which is why it helps to put two colleges side by side on the same measures rather than judging one in isolation.
The questions below address what students and families most commonly search about Columbia: how competitive admissions are, what the Core Curriculum requires, how cost compares to other Ivies, and what graduates earn. Columbia's combination of highest Ivy tuition and strong but not top-tier aid generosity is the most important financial fact to understand before applying.
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