The Columbia Chronicle

FAFSA updates to ease verification process for students, families

February 15, 2019

Changes to the FAFSA application process are helping to remove some of the burden associated with verifying documents for students and families. Assistant Vice President of Student Financial Services Cynthia Grunden said some students are flagged by the Department of Education ...

ServiceNow is currently working out of a temporary workspace in the Fulton Market, before moving to a permanent location.

Windy City isn’t new Silicon Valley

March 5, 2018

Another West Coast tech company will soon move to Chicago. ServiceNow, a software company with nearly $2 billion in annual revenue, announced Feb. 23 that it would create a new technology Development Center in Fulto...

SFS: Nationwide FAFSA change simplifies ‘tedious’ process

By Campus Reporter

October 3, 2016

Students can now submit their 2017–18 Free Application for Federal Student Aid as soon as Oct. 1, according to a Sept. 27 email Student Financial Services sent to students.The new timeline allows stu...

SFS payment plans cause student confusion

Assistant vice president of Student Financial Services Cynthia Grunden said SFS’s goal is to not have finances be an issue for students.

By Campus Reporter

September 12, 2016

When junior journalism major Mikhaela Padilla received a Student Financial Services email in August informing her about a drastic change in her payment plan, she was left with questions about the college...

Billboard music charts show more meme than music

By Managing Editor

April 11, 2016

It's not unusual for former hit songs to resurface on popular music charts generations after their musical peaks.Madonna's 1989 hit "Like a Prayer," for instance, skyrocketed to the top of the iTunes Top Songs chart following the veteran pop star's 2012 Super Bowl Halftime Show performance.Queen and David Bowie's collaboration "Under Pressure" repeaked at No. 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 following the untimely death of pop-rock icon ...

Surviving the big pay off

By Maria Castellucci & Matt McCall Opinions Editor & Features Editor

October 27, 2014

Russell Harrison might never have paid off his student loans if he hadn’t had his debt consolidated.Upon graduating in 2008 from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, after receiving a bachelor’s of arts in music composition, he owed $40,000–50,000 in private and federal student loans. At the time, he was working at 7-Eleven and a Millworks furniture construction factory, operating heavy machinery. He worked mornings an...

The Columbia Chronicle Graduating Class of 2014

May 15, 2014

After 1,460 days, the time has finally come for seniors to graduate. It's a time to look back at your four years at Columbia and reflect on how everything has been preparing you for this moment. "What a...

Homeless students invisible on college campuses

By Alexandra Kukulka

November 5, 2012

During the 2011 blizzard, dubbed the “Snowpocalypse,” most college students were busy partying indoors as snow piled up outside. However, one student spent those days huddled at a bus stop, trying to stay warm.With his clean shirt and jeans, trimmed hair and bright smile, it isn’t obvious that Aaron James Flowers, a junior radio student who also goes by Jay Babii SwagLoud, was recently homeless. But Flowers is just on...

More tuition, less aid

By The Columbia Chronicle

October 22, 2012

As many students struggle to fund their college education, some activists and professors argue that the distribution of loan and grant money, along with limited access to entrance and exit counseling, is causing problems for students.An Oct. 11 report from the National Economic Research Association found that 40 percent of the 27,000 college students polled had not received any exit counseling regarding loan debt, which h...