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Dual Degree Students

Dual Degree within Columbia University

Most Columbia dual degree programs provide flexibility in enrollment plans from one year or semester to another. 

  • Students should be aware that SIPA funding is only available for those semesters which you are attending SIPA, it cannot under any circumstances be used at other schools at Columbia.  Funding from the other schools is typically similarly restricted.
  • While enrolled at Columbia, your financial aid eligibility, including any combination of scholarships, fellowships, assistantships, student loans or work study, will be determined and processed by the school that you are attending that semester. 
  • Students enrolled in dual degree programs are just as eligible to apply for SIPA funding as are non-dual degree students.  While you are enrolled at the other school, please make sure you are aware of applicable deadlines and procedures at SIPA.
  • Students in a 5-year dual degree program (4 years as a Columbia or Barnard undergraduate and 1 year at SIPA) should be aware that financial aid policies and eligibility criteria at the undergraduate schools do not necessarily apply at SIPA.
  • While SIPA scholarship recipients who are dual degree students need not enroll at SIPA prior to enrolling at the other Columbia school, please note that scholarship offers are only valid for two academic years starting with the term SIPA awarded it for.  For example, a scholarship offer from SIPA for a student entering either Columbia school in fall 2022 extends only as far as spring 2024 and not beyond.

International Partner Schools in the Global Public Policy Network (GPPN)

If you intend to enroll abroad in the GPPN program, student loans can be processed at Columbia for use at the school you will be attending.  Be aware that the semester may begin earlier than Columbia’s, therefore prior to the disbursement of your aid.  The aid disburses at Columbia based on Columbia's academic calendar.  When that disbursement takes place, it creates a credit balance that is refunded to you.  It is important to have a direct deposit account set up (with a US bank) so that you will be able to access those funds quickly. If you are leaving prior to the beginning of Columbia’s semester, please plan accordingly, and have some financial resources available for immediate expenses.

  • Domestic students who wish to borrow student loans while studying abroad must complete their FAFSA and list Columbia as the recipient school (school code 002707); do not list the international school at which you will be studying. 
  • Please note that federal student loans are not available to domestic students in the programs at FGV in Sao Paolo and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. For domestic and international students, private loan options may be available for this and all other degree programs.
  • There are a limited number of scholarships available from SIPA during the year students are in residence here; funding decisions are made in the spring prior to the year students enter SIPA.  Because the availability of funds varies from one year to the next, we are unable to offer these scholarships a year in advance in cases where a student plans to enroll at SIPA in their second year of the program.