FACTS AND FIGURES
OUR CAMPUS Founded in 1890 as the Columbia School of Oratory, Columbia College Chicago is a private, nonprofit college located in downtown Chicago, adjacent to the lakefront, Grant Park, and the Museum Campus. We offer a distinctive curriculum that blends together fine, performing, and media arts, communications, liberal arts, business, and technology in a community that values the intersecting differences found within and among our students, faculty, and staff. Our students see the world through a creative lens. They graduate prepared to enter their fields and pave the way for professions that may not even exist yet. We train students for what employers expect, but also prepare them to adapt to the unexpected.
OUR CULTURE Columbia College Chicago celebrates and affirms all ways of being. Creators — writers, performers, communicators, storytellers — have always played a vital role in shaping cultural change. At Columbia, we expect that our students will approach their developing creative practice with a view toward achieving a more diverse and equitable world. We expect them to critically examine our nation’s history of oppression and privilege, and to understand that passivity in the face of discrimination and inequality is no longer a viable option for any of us. It is for these reasons, among many others, that Columbia College Chicago has never required standardized test scores for admission. These tests have a deep history of bias, and some were even created as tools to exclude students from the professional opportunities and social advancement afforded by higher education. Further, we do not believe these tests tell us anything important about a student’s ability to succeed at our school.
OUR COMMITMENT Our faculty, staff, and students — especially those who claim Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, or other historically marginalized identities — deserve to teach, work, and study at an institution that is engaged in examining and correcting systemic discrimination. Columbia College Chicago is committed to being an actively antiracist institution. We recognize this commitment is an ongoing process that will include both mistakes and learning opportunities for all of us, but it is work we must do — to not engage in such work would be negligent in our duties as educators and students.
SEE MORE AT:
colum.edu/discover
OUR COMMUNITY
OUR CLASSROOMS
Fall 2021 enrollment:
6,493 + 243 = 6,736 undergraduate students
graduate students
students total
57
549
Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Music, and Bachelor of Science degrees
full-time equivalent faculty
12:1
student-to-full-timeequivalent-faculty ratio
54
18
concentrations
62 students of color
students per class, on average
minors
first-generation students
OUR COSTS Fall 2021 enrollment:
1,696 + 572 = 2,268 freshmen
transfers
students of color
identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community
410
48
Chicago Public School graduates
states, and Washington D.C. represented
new students total
32
countries represented
We are deeply committed to making Columbia an affordable option for admitted students and their families.
2020–2021 academic year financial aid awards:
of freshmen received financial aid awards
of transfers received financial aid awards
$26,199
$22,711
Average financial aid awards for freshmen
Average financial aid awards for transfers
2022–2023 estimated cost of attendance:
59
student clubs and organizations
NEARLY
100,000
alumni working worldwide in the arts, entertainment, media, and communications industries.
$31,026
$18,000
$4,610
$53,636
Tuition and fees
Miscellaneous expenses
Questions?
Room and board
Total
@ColumAdmit
admissions@colum.edu
/ColumAdmit
312-369-7261
/ColumbiaCollegeChi 42689_02/2022