General Studies Lounge

Many of you have filled out the GSSC Financial Aid Survey. Here it is in final form. 463 of you responded (over 1/3 of the School)  Over 215 of you submitted personal stories of the debilitating effects of your debt loads.  The evidence is overwhelming. We call upon Columbia University to reform its most dirty secret - the debt load of GS students. Take a loot at the pdf files to uncover all the survey results. Here are some of the statistical findings:

· nearly 63% of GS students feel: "I fear that I will not have the freedom to pursue a career I feel passionate about because my financial burden is too heavy."

· over 12% of GS students feel "There's no way I can pay back these loans. I am crushed."

· over 56% of all GS students have taken non-federally subsidized bank loans to afford their education.

· over 50% of all seniors report that they will have exceeded the Stafford Loan limits of $46,000 by graduation day.

· 11.9% of all seniors report that they owe between $60,000-$80,000 in loans for their Columbia education

· 16.5% of all seniors report that they owe between $80,000-$100,000 in loans for their college education

· 6.4% of seniors report that they owe betwen $100,000-$120,000 in loans for their college education

· 8.3% of seniors report that they owe over $120,000 in student loan debt.

· 43% of GS students perceive the University to be "highly committed" to the financial aid of students enrolled in CC/SEAS

· 25.6% of GS students perceive the University to be "highly uncommitted" to the financial aid of students enrolled in GS, and

21.8%
of GS students perceive the University to be "poorest among its peer
institutions" in the commitment of financial aid to GS students