Newly expanded financial aid will cover tuition costs for admitted students from 80 percent of U.S. families.
Steve Bradt | MIT News
Publication Date:Nov. 20, 2024
Aerial photo of MIT’s campus: Credits: Emily Dahl
Undergraduates with family income below $200,000 can expect to attend MIT tuition-free starting next fall, thanks to newly expanded financial aid. Eighty percent of American households meet this income threshold.
And for the 50 percent of American families with income below $100,000, parents can expect to pay nothing at all toward the full cost of their students’ MIT education, which includes tuition as well as housing, dining, fees, and an allowance for books and personal expenses.
This $100,000 threshold is up from $75,000 this year, while next year’s $200,000 threshold for tuition-free attendance will increase from its current level of $140,000.
These new steps to enhance MIT’s affordability for students and families are the latest in a long history of efforts by the Institute to free up more resources to make an MIT education as affordable and accessible as possible. Toward that end, MIT has earmarked $167.3 million in need-based financial aid this year for undergraduate students — up some 70 percent from a decade ago.
“MIT’s distinctive model of education — intense, demanding, and rooted in science and engineering — has profound practical value to our students and to society,” MIT President Sally Kornbluth says. “As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, MIT is better at improving the financial futures of its graduates than any other U.S. college, and the Institute also ranks number one in the world for the employability of its graduates.”
“The cost of college is a real concern for families across the board,” Kornbluth adds, “and we’re determined to make this transformative educational experience available to the most talented students, whatever their financial circumstances. So, to every student out there who dreams of coming to MIT: Don’t let concerns about cost stand in your way.”
MIT is one of only nine colleges in the US that does not consider applicants’ ability to pay as part of its admissions process and that meets the full demonstrated financial need for all undergraduates. MIT does not expect students on aid to take loans, and, unlike many other institutions, MIT does not provide an admissions advantage to the children of alumni or donors. Indeed, 18 percent of current MIT undergraduates are first-generation college students.
