New to billing and payments? Start with the basics.
Register to Receive Stipend Awards
To receive a stipend award payment via direct deposit or check, students must be registered for classes in the term for which the aid has been awarded.
| During Fall and Spring Terms | During Summer Term |
|---|---|
• Students must be registered in the term for which the aid has been awarded. • Students must submit all required documentation to their school's Financial Aid Office for the payment to be processed. | • Registration may not be required for the summer term if the student is enrolled in a school that does not have a summer term enrollment requirement. |
Receiving Stipend Payments: Direct Deposit & Paper Check
Stipend payments are awarded directly to the students, not used to offset student account balances. There are multiple ways to receive a stipend payment:
University’s preferred method, direct deposit:
o Direct deposit to a U.S. checking or savings account is the University's preferred method for issuing stipends to all students. This saves the time of picking up and processing a paper check, and makes the funds available much sooner. Learn how to enroll (https://sfs.columbia.edu/direct-deposit).
o In order for a stipend payment to be disbursed via direct deposit in a particular term, students must already be registered for that term when payment is initially processed.
Paper check:
Domestic student stipends without direct deposit information will be mailed to the recipient’s domestic U.S. address in SSOL. If students do not have a domestic U.S. address in SSOL, the check will be mailed to the Payments and Deposits office located at 210 Kent Hall.
International students: Continuing student stipends without direct deposit information will be mailed to the recipient's home address in PAC. Students who receive stipends for the first time will have the check mailed to the SSOL domestic U.S. address. If students do not have a domestic U.S. address in SSOL, the check will be mailed to the Payments and Deposits office located at 210 Kent Hall.
Update home address in PAC:
Stipends for international students are processed through the University Payroll System. Please follow the following steps to update your home address in PAC:
1) Log in to My.Columbia.edu
2) Select View or Update your Personal Information on the Faculty and Staff page, and
3) Update your Home Address by clicking on it
Email Notification and Scheduling
Students will receive an email notification from Student Financial Services when a stipend payment is in process for you.
Domestic student stipend checks are normally available in mail-in twelve business days, following the date of the email notification. If you have direct deposit set up to receive stipends, the funds are normally in your bank account within three to five business days, following the date of receiving the email notification.
International students may experience a 10-15 business day timeline because their payments must be processed through University Payroll. Additional time will be expected for international mailing to certain countries.
Stipends and Tax Reporting
Information about tax reporting may be found here (https://sfs.columbia.edu/tax-info).
Additional Questions
Contact Payments and Deposits Office
You can reach us between 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday – Friday via:
Online Q&A tool (https://askus.columbia.edu/)
Email Us (mailto:[email protected])
Phone: +1-212-854-1541
Morningside Location: 210 Kent Hall
Contact Stipend & Payroll Hotline
Our help desk services have been enhanced to provide a single, dedicated resource for students with questions related to student payroll and stipend payments and have available a corresponding issue resolution process. Students can alert us to their question or issue by submitting an inquiry online or calling +1 (212) 854-5000.
Summer Stipend Information for Administrators
Policy and Procedure for Student Payments
Stipends are one of several types of payments to students. To help schools and departments identify payment types and process transactions appropriately, administrators must ensure they are familiar with the policy and procedures related to payments to students.
Summer Stipends
Summer Stipends are processed between April and October. For requests outside of the processing season please contact [email protected]
Certain schools that award stipend funds during a term of non-enrollment, such as the summer terms, should also refer to and use the Summer Stipend Form. (Required excel spreadsheet).
To cancel a summer stipend, use the Summer Stipend Cancellation Form.
Please carefully review the request form and the Excel spreadsheet before the submission. Errors in the documents may lead to a substantial delay in the payments to all the students processed that day. Most importantly, please double-check the student PIDs and the SIS fund codes. If the school submitted the stipends for the wrong students, the school is responsible for the amount if the payment cannot be recovered by the University.
For additional information about completing the form, watch the Summer Stipend Video Tutorial.
Receiving Stipends After Previous Stipend Cancellation
International students whose stipend gets canceled after receiving the funds (direct deposit in bank account or check cashed) need to pay back the net (after-tax) amount received to the University Payroll Office following the overpayment recovery instruction sent out by the Payroll Office. No additional stipend can be issued until the overpayment recovery process for the previous stipend cancellation is completed.