Application Fee Waivers

Columbia GSAS offers two options for eligible applicants to request a waiver of the application fee. You will be able to select the appropriate option and complete the relevant Special Programs or Financial Fee-Waiver Request Form after you have submitted your application.

Please note:

  • Submission of a fee waiver request form does not guarantee that your application fee will be waived. You will be notified via email when your request has been reviewed.
  • If you have previously requested and received two fee waivers for prior applications to GSAS, you may be ineligible to request an additional fee waiver for a new application. Each applicant may have only two approved application fee waiver requests. 

Additionally, GSAS waives application fees for applications submitted through certain outside organizations, for applicants who are current GSAS students, and for applicants who are currently serving in the United States Military.

Information about fee-waiver eligibility is provided below.

Submitting Your Fee Waiver Request

After you have submitted the application and are on the Application Status Page, there is a link to the fee waiver forms. Fee waiver requests and any required supporting documents must be submitted through the online request forms. Documents should not be sent to the Office of Admissions by mail or email.

Once you have filled out the form and submitted the application, your application will be eligible for consideration. You will be notified via email when your request for the fee waiver has been approved or denied. Processing of fee waiver decisions may not be completed until after the application deadline has passed. However, a pending fee waiver request does not preclude the program from reviewing your application.

If your request is not approved, you must pay the fee via credit card before your application will be eligible to receive an admission decision.

Important Notes:

  • Submission of a fee waiver request form does not guarantee that your application fee will be waived. You will be notified via email when your request has been reviewed. 
  • If you have previously requested and received two fee waivers for prior applications to GSAS, you may be ineligible to request an additional fee waiver for a new application. Each applicant may have only two approved application fee waiver requests. 

Types of Fee Waivers

The Graduate School will consider a waiver of the application fee for applicants who demonstrate financial need, political or personal hardship, or other circumstances that make paying the application fee unduly onerous.

You must fill out the Financial Fee Waiver Request Form and upload materials to support your request, such as letters from your university, tax returns, or other financial documents.

Important Note: Under no circumstances should you include your Social Security Number on any of the documents submitted via this form. If your Social Security Number or other sensitive, personal information appears on any of your financial materials, please redact before uploading.

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences will waive the application fee for applicants who are currently participants in one of the programs listed below, or who have participated in one of the programs listed below for at least one year within the last four years. You must fill out a Special Programs Fee-Waiver Request Form and upload a letter from a program officer documenting the dates of your participation. 

Eligible programs include:

  • American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES)
  • Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minorities Students (ABRCMS)
  • California Pre-Doctoral Sally Casanova Scholars Program
  • Careers Opportunity Research/NIMH (COR/NIMH)
  • Científico Latino: Graduate School Mentorship Initiative (GSMI)
  • Creating Connections Consortium (C3)
  • Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT)
  • Leadership Alliance Summer Research Early Identification Program
  • Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows Program
  • Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC)
  • Minority Biomedical Research Support Program (RISE)
  • NIH Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP)
  • Questbridge
  • RBSI (Ralph Bunche Summer Institute)
  • Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program
  • Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)

If you have been offered a fee waiver after attending a recruitment event or through correspondence with a GSAS staff member, please complete a Special Programs Fee Waiver Request and include that information in the space provided on the form.

Special Note for Program Administrators: Request Fee Waiver Eligibility

A special program not listed above may request that Columbia GSAS add their program to the roster of Special Programs eligible for an application fee waiver for its participants by writing to [email protected], provided that the program meets all of the following criteria:

  • Mission explicitly aligns with the Graduate School’s Statement on Diversity
  • Demonstrates a clear directive for students to enter a doctoral or research program
  • Is represented or has chapters at more than one U.S. college or university campus

If you are applying to Columbia University through an outside fellowship organization, you may be eligible to have your application fee waived. There is no separate fee waiver request form required, though the organization’s representatives are required to enter their direct contact information as part of the application.

Eligible outside organizations include:

  • Amid East
  • DAAD-German American Exchange
  • DAF – Danish American Fulbright Commission
  • Fulbright
  • IGERT – Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship
  • LASPAU – Academic and Professional Programs for the Americas

GSAS automatically grants a Fee Waiver to applicants who are currently enrolled GSAS students. No fee waiver request form is required.

Fee Waivers are granted to applicants who are currently serving in the US Military. No fee waiver request form is required.