Dr. Kwang-Wu Kim - President and CEO of Columbia College Chicago

A Message from President Kim on the 2023-24 Academic Year Tuition and Fees

November 11, 2022

Dear Columbia faculty and staff:

At its most recent meeting on November 1, the Columbia College Chicago Board of Trustees approved the following tuition, housing, and fee schedules for the 2023-24 academic year:

Undergraduate tuition and fees
  • Full-time tuition will rise by $1,464 to $30,734, a 5 percent increase before financial aid.
  • Required fees will increase by $29, or 2 percent, to $1,479.  As a reminder, Study Abroad, Semester in LA, and U-Pass charges are not included in this figure.
  • Housing rates for residential students will rise by 3 percent to reflect rent increases from the residence hall property owners. 
Graduate tuition and fees
  • Tier 1: Acting and Contemporary Performance Making; Cinema and Television Directing; Cinema and Television Producing; Music Composition for the Screen – $1,356 tuition per credit
  • Tier 2: Arts Management; Entrepreneurship for Creatives; Fine Arts; Photography – $1,257 tuition per credit
  • Tier 3: Civic Media; Creative Writing; Interaction Design; Strategic Communication – $1,197 tuition per credit
This represents, on average, a 5 percent increase over 2022-23. The blended graduate fee will rise by $18 to $888 per year, a 2.1 percent increase. TheStatus of Course Auditing and Thesis Continuance Course fees will remain separate items, as will the U-Pass charge, which is set by the Chicago Transit Authority.

In addition, three graduate programs – Arts Management, Entrepreneurship for Creatives, and Music Composition for the Screen – are being reclassified within the Graduate School’s tiered pricing system. This will result in slightly reduced tuition for returning Arts Management students and an above-average increase for returning students in the other two programs. The college will offset those increases with additional scholarship support for the impacted students. TheSchool of Graduate Studies will follow up with additional details about this in thecoming weeks.

Student supports and scholarships

If students approach you with questions about tuition or financial aid, please direct them to the Columbia Central team (undergraduates) or the School ofGraduate Studies (graduate students), which will work with them and their families regarding their financial need and individual circumstances. 

Undergraduate students who have earned a minimum of 75 credit hours can apply for a need-based Degree Completion Assistance grant.  As a reminder, the maximum semester course load that undergraduate students can take without incurring an overload charge is now 18 credit hours.

Undergraduate and graduate students can also inquire about donor-funded scholarships; the application deadline for most 2023-24 scholarships is February 1, 2023.  

Sincerely,

Kwang-Wu Kim
President
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