MIT scholarships for undergraduates
We refer to the grant money offered directly by the Institute as an MIT scholarship even though we award it based solely on financial need. MIT provided 77 percent of all aid to its undergraduates in 2010-2011. Of this MIT financial aid, 93 percent took the form of scholarships, less than1 percent was loans, and about 7 percent employment. The average amount of MIT scholarship per recipient in 2010-2011 was $31,926.
Getting a scholarship
If you’re interested in receiving an MIT scholarship for undergraduate study, you need to apply for MIT financial aid each year. MIT awards all undergraduate financial aid on the basis of your family’s financial need, so if you qualify for financial aid, you’ll automatically be considered for an MIT scholarship. Undergraduates are eligible to receive a scholarship in an amount up to the price minus the sum of the expected family contribution and the self-help level.
Where the money comes from
MIT scholarships come from two sources – charitable gifts to MIT, and Institute funds that can be spent on any purpose. Individuals including alumni give us funds for undergraduate scholarships; we invest them as part of MIT’s endowment so we can help undergraduates for generations to come.We currently have more than 1,000 of these endowed and gift funds.
After you receive an MIT scholarship
If you receive an MIT scholarship as part of your financial aid package, you must submit an annual Student Information Review Form online to provide us information about your background, interests, and experiences. This form is available online through WebSIS under the "For Students" section in "Financial Record." While MIT Scholarships are awarded only to students with financial need, some funds carry additional award criteria as specified by the donors. The Student Information Review Form helps us determine if you match any of the donor funds that have specific preferences or conditions. The information that you share enables us to show donors the impact of their generosity. For many students with financial need, their MIT Scholarships may be comprised of several donor funds, some with preferences and some without, as well as money from general MIT funds.
Also using WebSIS, you can see the name of every fund that has contributed to your scholarship total – and each name has a link to a web page that includes some biographical information about the fund and the donor, whenever available. Almost half of our 1000 funds are actively stewarded, meaning there is a living donor or family member associated with the fund. Many of these donors appreciate receiving news about you. So if you're on the receiving end of a donor's generosity, we may ask you to make a personal connection by writing your donor to share your experiences as an MIT undergraduate and thank them for their support. It's your chance to stand out from the crowd, and our donors take a genuine interest in getting to know you. Our hope is that someday you'll join the community of MIT donors who make this generous undergraduate scholarship program possible.The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation was created to ensure that the United States would maintain its leadership in science and technology by supporting promising students in science and engineering. In order to be eligible for the $10,000 scholarhship, candidates must meet the following qualifications:
- Scholarship candidates must be nominated by a faculty member. Students may not directly apply for the scholarship.
- Scholarship nominees must be U.S. citizens.
- Scholarship nominees must be engineering or natural or applied science (e.g. astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, computer science) or mathematics students with intentions to pursue research or advance their field upon completion of their final degrees. Students intending to pursue a practice in professional medicine are not eligible for the scholarship. However, those intending to perform biomedical research are eligible.
- At the time of nomination, scholarship candidates must be at least second year (sophomore) college students, have excellent grades, and have participated in lab and research work in their field. With this background, the student is fairly well committed to continuing on this course.
