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About Financial aid

Important news about financial aid for 2008-09! Read the MIT press release as well as a Q&A and some background statistics on financial aid enhancements.

MIT’s “sticker price” should not be a factor in your decision to apply or enroll here. The percentage of our students receiving financial aid is extraordinarily high – 89% for undergraduates and approximately 82% for graduate and professional students (click here for more financial aid statistics). MIT itself is the largest source of financial aid to our undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, providing almost $224 million in fiscal 2007.

At MIT, we have three guiding principles for undergraduate admissions and financial aid:

• We seek out and admit the most talented and promising students without regard to their family financial circumstances.
• We award undergraduate aid on the basis of financial need only. This means that we don’t offer any merit or athletic scholarships.
• We meet the full need of each undergraduate for all four years.

Click here for information about financial aid for graduate students.

Approximately 89 percent of MIT undergraduates receive some type of financial aid (scholarships, loans and term-time jobs) from some source (MIT, federal, state, or private). This includes need-based and merit-based aid from non-MIT sources.

The largest source of undergraduate financial aid is an MIT scholarship – money that you don’t have to pay back or earn. MIT scholarships are based on your family’s ability to contribute towards the price of your education. These scholarships come from a variety of MIT sources, including endowed funds, gifts donated by alumni/ae and friends, and general Institute funds.

The financial aid package

Financial aid package is the term we use to describe the total of all types of aid you receive from all sources. We use information you submit on the FAFSA, CSS PROFILE and other documents to calculate your financial need, and then we use a simple system to award aid:

• For families earning less than $75,000, we meet the first $2,850 of your financial need ($4,750 if your family earns more than $75,000 annually) through a loan/work offer (also called “self-help”).
• If your need is greater than $2,850, we award you an MIT scholarship from one of the funds we administer.

Here’s another way to look at it:

Student expense budget   –   EFC   =   financial need

and also...

Self-help  +  MIT scholarship   =   financial need

Student expense budget is $50,100 for 2008-09.

EFC is your expected family contribution (parent contribution* plus student contribution**).

Self-help is $2,850 for families earning less than $75,000 annually (minus any outside scholarships, grants or awards). The student contributes the self-help amount through term-time work and/or student loans.

MIT scholarship is a grant from MIT, often funded by endowed scholarship funds.

* Parent contribution is determined through a standard formula using your parent’s financial data on the FAFSA form, CSS PROFILE, tax returns, etc. It can be from any combination of sources, including 529 plans and other savings, savings and cash on hand, current income, and parent loans.

** Student contribution is a standard expected amount depending on your class year and usually comes from your summer earnings. Freshmen are expected to contribute $1,500, sophomores $2,200, juniors $2,500 and seniors $2,800.

If you receive any outside scholarships, grants or benefits from federal, state or private sources that aren’t administered by us (for example, the Federal Pell Grant Program or the National Merit or Achievement Program), we use it to offset your loan/work component, so you end up with a higher percentage of MIT scholarship in your financial aid package.

Your financial need and amount of aid you'll receive will be listed in your financial aid award letter.

Estimating your expected family contribution (EFC)

The family contribution plus the student contribution together are called the expected family contribution or EFC. FinAid.org has an online calculator to help you gauge your EFC. Under the “Need Analysis Methodology” option, select “Institutional Methodology.” However, be aware that this will provide only a rough estimate; you are not guaranteed that MIT’s calculation of your EFC will match the figure produced by this calculator.

Applying for aid

If you’re interested in applying for need-based financial aid, you need to apply each year, regardless of whether you're a prospective or enrolled student. The steps and deadlines for applying for financial aid vary according to your enrollment status, so select your category below:

• Prospective freshmen and transfers
• Enrolled undergraduates
• Graduate and professional students

Deadline for all materials:

February 15 – all prospective undergraduates (freshmen and transfers)

April 15 – enrolled undergraduates; prospective and enrolled graduate students

Tracking your aid application

Starting in January 2008, you can track the status of your financial aid application and find out if we're missing anything on MyMIT.

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