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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.

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. Some of our donors set various preferences or conditions over and above financial need, specifying who can receive a scholarship from that fund. We currently have more than 1,000 of these endowed and gift funds.

MIT provided 76 percent of all aid to its undergraduates in 2008-2009. Of this MIT financial aid, 92 percent took the form of scholarships, less than1 percent was loans, and about 7 percent employment. The average amount per student in 2008-2009 was $29,891.

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 to provide us information about your background, interests, and experiences. We use this information to match undergraduate scholarship recipients to donor funds that have various preferences or restrictions. Many other needy undergraduates receive scholarship money that comes from endowed funds with no restrictions or preferences, or from general MIT funds.

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 900 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 some day you’ll join the community of MIT donors who make this generous undergraduate scholarship program possible.

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