On Thursday, March 5, the MIT Corporation approved the undergraduate tuition rate for 2020-2021. Financial aid will increase by 7.8 percent, offsetting a 3.8 percent rise in tuition and fees. The Institute will commit $147 million for financial aid. The net cost for an average MIT student receiving need-based aid will be $23,442.
“Our undergraduates are bristling with a kind of vibrant energy that you can see and feel. As a source of MIT’s power and promise to build a better world, we are committed to meeting their financial needs so they can unleash their full potential while they are here. It’s an honor to be able to support such incredible thinkers, innovators, and future leaders,” says Ian A. Waitz, vice chancellor for undergraduate and graduate education and the Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
The estimated average MIT scholarship for students receiving financial aid next year is $53,258. More than 35 percent of MIT undergraduates receive aid sufficient to allow them to attend the Institute tuition-free.
For undergraduates not receiving any need-based financial aid, tuition and fees will be $55,818 next year. Including housing and dining costs, the total will come to $73,138.
MIT is one of only five American colleges and universities that admit all undergraduate students without regard to their financial circumstances; that award all financial aid based on need; and that meet the full demonstrated financial need of all admitted students.
For students with family incomes under $90,000 a year and typical assets, MIT makes it possible for many to receive scholarship funding from all sources that will allow them to attend the Institute tuition-free. While the Institute’s financial aid program primarily supports students from lower- and middle-income households, even families earning more than $250,000 may qualify for need-based financial aid based on their family circumstances, such as if two or more children are in college at the same time.
About 59 percent of MIT’s undergraduates receive need-based financial aid from the Institute and 18 percent receive Federal Pell Grants, which generally go to U.S. students with family incomes below $60,000.
MIT treats the Pell Grant in a unique way to further support low income students. Unlike most other colleges and universities, MIT allows students to use the Pell Grant to offset what they are expected to contribute through work during the semester and the summer. MIT also changed its financial aid policies recently to provide more support for U.S. veterans.
In 2019, 76 percent of MIT seniors graduated with no debt; of those who did assume debt to finance their education, the median indebtedness at graduation was $13,481.
