MIT to be tuition-free for families earning less than $75,000 a year

MIT to be tuition-free for families earning less than $75,000 a year

Nearly 30 percent of MIT students to have all tuition charges covered

March 7, 2008

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) today announced its
financial aid program
for 2008-2009. Increases in financial aid will make it possible for a
larger fraction of MIT
students to have their tuition and fees completely covered.

Under the new plan, which will take effect in the 2008-2009 academic
year:

Families earning less than $75,000 a year will have all tuition
covered. For parents with
total annual income below $75,000 and typical assets, MIT will ensure
that all tuition
charges are covered with an MIT scholarship, federal and state grants,
and/or outside
scholarship funds. Nearly 30 percent of MIT students fall into this
tuition-free category.
For families earning less than $75,000 a year, MIT will eliminate the
student loan
expectation. MIT will no longer expect students from families with
total annual income
below $75,000 and typical assets to take out loans to cover expenses
beyond tuition.
Under this provision, for example, students in this income group who
participate in MIT's
paid Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) each semester
would be able
to graduate debt-free.
For families earning less than $100,000, MIT will eliminate home equity
in determining
their need. In determining the ability to pay for college, MIT will no
longer consider home
equity for families with total annual income below $100,000 and typical
assets. On
average, this will reduce parental contributions by $1,600. For
families who rent, rather
than own a home, MIT will provide a comparable reduction in the
expected parental
contribution.
MIT will reduce student work-study requirements for all financial aid
recipients. During
the past decade, MIT has steadily lowered the amount it expects
students to provide
through term-time work. MIT will take a further step in this direction
by reducing the
work-study expectation for all financial aid recipients by an
additional 10 percent.
The Institute has a long tradition of opening its doors to talented
students from a full
range of economic backgrounds. For more than four decades, MIT has made
its
undergraduate financial aid decisions by following a three-part
financial aid philosophy.
"First, we are need-blind in admissions, meaning that we admit all
undergraduates on the
basis of academic merit alone, without considering their ability to
pay," said Dean for
Undergraduate Education Daniel Hastings. "Second, MIT meets the full
demonstrated
financial need of all students we admit. Third, we award all our aid
based on need alone;
MIT does not award any academic, athletic or other forms of merit
scholarships."

Total financial aid budget is one of the highest per enrolled student
in the nation.
Building on this commitment, MIT will increase its financial aid budget
to $74 million.
MIT's total financial aid budget is one of the highest per enrolled
student in the nation.
Sixty percent of MIT undergraduates receive scholarship aid from the
Institute's internal
resources. Fully 90 percent of MIT undergraduates receive financial aid
of some kind, from
a range of sources. While MIT focuses assistance on those with fewer
resources, it also
provides aid to families with incomes well above $100,000 who
demonstrate need--for
example, because they have more than one child in college at a time. In
fact,
approximately 38 percent of our current MIT scholarship recipients come
from families
earning more than $100,000.

Tuition and fees for the upcoming academic year will increase 4 percent
to $36,390;
however, this figure represents less than half of what it costs MIT to
educate an
undergraduate. As Hastings noted, "In a pattern MIT has followed for
many years, we are
increasing funds available for financial aid this year at a far greater
rate than the rise in
tuition." During the past decade, the net tuition for
undergraduates--what students and
families pay after financial aid--has, on average, dropped by more than
15 percent when
adjusted for inflation.

"For those receiving an MIT scholarship, which is six out of every 10
MIT undergraduates,
net tuition is $8,100--an amount that approximates the in-state cost of
many public
universities," Hastings added.

Tradition of ensuring access and affordability for those who need it
most.
MIT has long taken an aggressive position on aid because its students
demonstrate a
much higher level of need than students at peer institutions. More than
22 percent of MIT
undergraduates come from families with annual incomes less than $60,000
a year; 17
percent come from families with incomes under $45,000.

Two years ago, the Institute took a leadership role in the national
debate on financial aid
when it became the first private university to match Federal Pell
Grants, dollar for dollar,
effectively doubling this federal grant for the neediest students.
Approximately 14 percent
of MIT undergraduates receive a Pell Grant, the largest federal grant
program for
undergraduate education.

"We will continue our longstanding financial commitment to students and
their families in
the years ahead," Hastings stated. "That we can welcome to our campus
such
extraordinary students, regardless of their economic background, is due
to our historic
dedication to need-based financial aid."