When Columbia rolled out its new Student Information System this fall, the goal was to simplify access to academic and financial tools.
But six weeks into the semester, it hasn’t been smooth sailing. Students are still waiting for financial aid disbursements that were promised weeks ago, the Chronicle previously reported.
In previous semesters, financial assistance, including grants, scholarships and loans, was typically distributed before classes even began. For example, in Spring 2025, students received funds within a week of the start of the semester.
This semester, many students who rely on those refunds to pay rent, buy groceries or cover daily expenses, are still waiting.
The issue isn’t the Student Information System itself. It’s that the system had not yet been fully integrated with other key college platforms, including those that manage financial aid, student employment and disability services. Those incomplete connections created bottlenecks that directly affect students.
The college is working to resolve them, but needs to make it a prioroty. At the beginning of the school year, more than 400 students had to pick up printed letters from the SSD office and distribute them to faculty,
Then on Wednesday, Oct. 8, over a month after the fall semester commenced, the SSD office sent out an email to students that forms were being sent electronically again.
Students with disabilities should not have been forced to physically pick up letters and hand deliver them, thus ruining the discreteness of professors being notified via email.
Columbia deserves credit for modernizing its digital infrastructure, but upgrades that leave students stranded aren’t improvements. The promise of a streamlined experience doesn’t mean much when critical systems don’t communicate with one another.
Students should not be penalized because the college’s back-end systems are out of sync. Timely access to funds and accommodations isn’t just an administrative goal. It’s a matter of equity, reliability and trust.
Copy edited by Matt Brady
