Columbia University in the City of New York
About
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a private Ivy League research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1754 as King's College by royal charter under George II of Great Britain on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhattan, it is the oldest institution of higher education in New York and the fifth-oldest in the United States.
Admissions & acceptance rate
First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Non-Pell students graduate at a 5.0-point higher rate than Pell recipients.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 252 Title IV programs, 69 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 1 fails. 182 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing69 · 27.4%
- No Data182 · 72.2%
- Failing1 · 0.4%
Severity spectrum
Tiers band programs by how far graduate earnings sit above or below the benchmark, from Critical (below −15%) through Safe (above +25%). No data means earnings were privacy-suppressed.
Earnings premium gap
Graduate earnings versus the federal benchmark, worst gaps first.
Debt vs earnings
Median completer debt against median graduate earnings, highest burden first.
Accreditation status & history
Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.
Middle States Commission on Higher Education
Programmatic accreditations · 21
Action history · 50
- Sep 2025Renewal of AccreditationCouncil on Education for Public Health · Public Health (PHG) - Graduate level school of public health
- Jun 2025Probation or Equivalent or a More Severe Status: WarningMiddle States Commission on Higher Education
- Apr 2025Renewal of AccreditationAmerican Physical Therapy Association, Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education · Physical Therapy (PT) - Professional programs for the physical therapist
- Jan 2025Grant Substantive Change: ProgramAmerican Dental Association, Commission on Dental Accreditation · Endodontics
- Jan 2025Renewal of AccreditationAmerican Dental Association, Commission on Dental Accreditation · Periodontics
Tuition & cost
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Net price by family income
Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 2,444 students received $15.2M in Pell grants, alongside $300.5M in federal Direct Loans.
Pell recipients · 5-year trend
Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25
Loan awards count each loan type a student holds, not unique borrowers; one student may carry several (e.g. subsidized and unsubsidized), so the per-type figures are the reliable detail.
Student loan default rate
The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.
Of 3,735 borrowers who entered repayment, 35 (0.9%) defaulted within three years — below the 2.3% national rate.
Default rate vs national, by cohort
* Cohorts 2020 and later read near 0% because the federal COVID-19 payment pause (CARES Act) suspended defaults nationwide. These years reflect a national policy, not institutional performance; the 2019 cohort is the last measured under normal repayment.
Academic programs at Columbia
Top program areas ranked by completions.
Top program families by completions
Enrollment trends & demographics
Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.
Gender split
Race / ethnicity composition
Athletics & Title IX gender equity
How athletic participation, aid, and spending are split between men and women.
Men vs women · spending splits
Sport-by-sport · 18
Campus safety & crime statistics
Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.
3-year trend
Criminal offenses by type
By location
- On campus69
- Public property66
Includes 50 in residence halls (a subset of on-campus, not added to the total).
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
- Race1
- Religion1
- Ethnicity1
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
- Broadway Hall1 fireDamage $0-$99
- John Jay Hall2 firesMachinery/IndustrialDamage $1,000-$9,999
- John Jay Hall2 firesCookingDamage $100-$999
- Woodbridge Hall1 fireA student, using a cigarette lighter, set fire to a bulletin board.Damage $100-$999
- Carlton Arms2 firesElectricalDamage $1,000-$9,999
- Carlton Arms2 firesCookingDamage $100-$999
- 600 W 113th Street1 fireCookingDamage $100-$999
- 536 West 113 Street1 fireElectricalDamage $100-$999
- 601 West 115 Street1 fireOtherDamage $100,000-$249,999
- 400 West 119 Street1 fireOtherDamage $10,000-$24,999
Data quality: 1 report was later determined unfounded across the reporting period and are excluded from the totals above.
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Columbia vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Columbia selected for federal comparison reporting.
A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.
| Carnegie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectColumbia University in the City of New York | 96% | — | 35,173 | $20,148 | R1 Research |
Baylor University | 80% | 51.3% | 20,626 | $41,942 | R1 Research |
Boston College | 91% | 16.4% | 15,432 | $39,866 | R1 Research |
Boston University | 89% | 11.1% | 37,737 | $26,996 | R1 Research |
Brandeis University | 86% | 40.5% | 5,205 | $33,885 | R1 Research |
Brown University | 96% | 5.4% | 11,956 | $26,572 | R1 Research |
California Institute of Technology | 94% | 2.6% | 2,430 | $18,902 | R1 Research |
Carnegie Mellon University | 94% | 11.7% | 15,888 | $31,671 | R1 Research |
Case Western Reserve University | 87% | 36.5% | 12,475 | $38,909 | R1 Research |
Cornell University | 95% | 8.8% | 26,793 | $32,337 | R1 Research |
Dartmouth College | 96% | 5.4% | 6,938 | $28,619 | R1 Research |
Drexel University | 78% | 79.4% | 21,153 | $38,428 | R1 Research |
Duke University | 97% | 5.7% | 17,499 | $34,454 | R1 Research |
Emory University | 91% | 10.6% | 15,175 | $23,911 | R1 Research |
George Washington University | 84% | 47.1% | 25,374 | $37,454 | R1 Research |
Georgetown University | 95% | 12.9% | 20,031 | $39,433 | R1 Research |
Harvard University | 98% | 3.6% | 30,259 | $16,816 | R1 Research |
Johns Hopkins University | 94% | 6.4% | 30,210 | $18,161 | R1 Research |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 96% | 4.5% | 11,886 | $19,813 | R1 Research |
New York University | 88% | 9.2% | 56,832 | $35,035 | R1 Research |
Northeastern University | 91% | 5.2% | 32,553 | $32,116 | R1 Research |
Northwestern University | 95% | 7.7% | 23,856 | $27,143 | R1 Research |
Princeton University | 98% | 4.6% | 9,137 | $10,555 | R1 Research |
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 84% | 63.5% | 7,040 | $33,139 | R1 Research |
Rice University | 95% | 8.0% | 8,961 | $12,640 | R1 Research |
Stanford University | 92% | 3.6% | 18,625 | $12,136 | R1 Research |
Syracuse University | 84% | 45.9% | 22,589 | $41,026 | R1 Research |
Tufts University | 94% | 11.5% | 13,599 | $35,435 | R1 Research |
Tulane University of Louisiana | 86% | 14.0% | 13,310 | $43,939 | R1 Research |
University of Chicago | 96% | 4.5% | 18,566 | $18,967 | R1 Research |
University of Denver | 76% | 77.8% | 12,813 | $36,037 | R1 Research |
University of Miami | 84% | 18.9% | 19,852 | $36,803 | R1 Research |
University of Notre Dame | 95% | 11.3% | 13,042 | $27,823 | R1 Research |
University of Pennsylvania | 97% | 5.4% | 29,109 | $31,229 | R1 Research |
University of Rochester | 85% | 40.1% | 11,946 | $30,248 | R1 Research |
University of Southern California | 92% | 9.8% | 46,566 | $31,927 | R1 Research |
Vanderbilt University | 94% | 5.9% | 13,575 | $19,040 | R1 Research |
Washington University in St Louis | 94% | 12.1% | 16,357 | $22,117 | R1 Research |
Yale University | 96% | 3.9% | 15,564 | $27,818 | R1 Research |
| Peer group median | 94% | 10.2% | 16,357 | $31,229 |
Columbia Institutional Research office
The IR team responsible for the institution's federal reporting.
The Office of Planning and Institutional Research provides accurate and timely information in support of the University's strategic planning, policy development, and decision making.
Visit IR office page- John SaulDirector of Institutional Research
- Lucy DrotningAssociate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness
- Kimberly WooAssistant Director of Institutional Research
- Yufan ShenInstitutional Data Analyst
- Kat YeeAssessment Analyst
Common Data Set (4)
The institution's official annual Common Data Set publications — the most detailed reference for enrollment, admissions, and outcomes.
Reports & documents (5)
Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.
- DashboardDashboardccrc.tc.columbia.edu
- Data definitionData Definitions | Teachers College Data | Office of Institutional Research | Teachers College, Columbia UniversityThe page provides links and directions related to Teachers College Data managed by the Office of Institutional Research at Columbia University. It includes sections on various data aspects such as retention rates and licensure pass rates. It serves as a resource for faculty, staff, and others requiring institutional research support or data consultancy.tc.columbia.edu
- Data dictionaryDS-Access Version 9 Data Dictionary: Texts Table2009This document provides the data dictionary for the Texts Table (tblTexts) in the DS-Access Version 9, explaining fields such as Acknowledgments, Author, TextID, Title, and others. Part of the Digital Scriptorium technical information by Columbia University Libraries.www1.columbia.edu
- DFR reportIPEDS Data Feedback Report 20242024nces.ed.gov
- FactbookColumbia Facts2024Columbia Facts is an annual publication by Columbia University's Office of Planning and Institutional Research that summarizes essential information about the University's history, governance, faculties, enrollment, and financials. The Office also produces the Statistical Abstract, which includes multiple data tables on various institutional areas of interest.opir.columbia.edu
Frequently asked questions about Columbia University in the City of New York
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Columbia.
What is the graduation rate at Columbia University in the City of New York?
How many students attend Columbia University in the City of New York?
What is the average net price at Columbia University in the City of New York?
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Where is Columbia University in the City of New York located?
Who runs Institutional Research at Columbia University in the City of New York?
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