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2008-09 FINANCIAL AID ENHANCEMENT: Background information and statistics

Here are some background statistics regarding the financial aid enhancements we announced on March 7, 2008. We also have some answers to questions you might have about the new programs.

MIT aid is rising faster than tuition

• Between 1998 and 2008, MIT more than doubled its undergraduate scholarships, from $27 million to $66 million. Next year MIT will award $74 million in undergraduate need-based scholarships, one of the highest per enrolled student in the U.S. During that same period, while MIT tuition and fees increased at an average annual growth rate of 4.2%, MIT undergraduate scholarships rose 9.1%.
• This rapid rise in aid means that MIT's students and families today pay net tuition (i.e., tuition after MIT scholarship) that is, on average, almost 15% less than ten years ago, after adjusting for inflation.
• Six out of every ten MIT undergraduates receives a scholarship from MIT that brings their average tuition to $8,100 — a figure close to the in-state price of many public universities.
• MIT is the largest provider of financial aid to its undergraduates, providing 76 percent of all aid undergraduates receive: the federal government provides 15 percent and the remaining 9 percent is from private and state sources.

MIT students have greater need than those at other schools on average

• The proportion of MIT undergraduates with demonstrated need is more than 15 percentage points higher than at other top schools, according to U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges 2008."
• 17% of MIT undergraduates come from families earning less than $45,000 a year; 22% come from families earning less than $60,000.
• MIT also educates a high proportion of first-generation college students, including 16% of current freshmen.
• Approximately 14% of MIT undergraduates are Federal Pell Grant recipients and MIT matches their grant, dollar for dollar, effectively doubling the value of this federal grant.

An MIT education is uniquely expensive to provide

• Eighty-five percent of MIT undergraduates major in science or engineering, with course work that requires state-of-the-art laboratories and other equipment.
• MIT's full "sticker price" tuition actually represents less than half of what it costs to educate an undergraduate at MIT.
• Eighty-five percent of MIT undergraduates also engage in hands-on research side by side with our faculty through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).

MIT debt fell as student debt nationally rose

• In last year's class, more than half of MIT undergraduates graduated with zero debt.
• For undergraduates who do borrow, the median total debt is $11,500 -- a decrease of 51% since 1998.
• Median MIT undergraduate debt decreased significantly in the last decade because the Institute replaced student loans with MIT scholarships.

Endowment spending is constrained

• Every year since 1999, MIT has spent more than 5% of the three-year average market value of its endowment.
• Eighty-two percent of the 2,898 separate funds making up MIT's endowment are restricted to meet specific donor requirements, such as professorships — the largest category of restrictions.
• Thirteen percent of MIT's endowed funds are restricted specifically for undergraduate financial aid, making it possible for MIT to provide need-based scholarships to 60% of its undergraduates from all income levels.

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