Admissions

In an effort to make higher education more accessible, MIT has announced that undergraduate students with families earning less than $200,000 per year will receive free tuition beginning fall 2025, reports Alexandra Petri for The New York Times. “We believe MIT should be the pre-eminent destination for the most talented students in the country interested in an education centered on science and technology,” explains Stu Schmill, dean of admissions and student financial services, “and accessible to the best students regardless of their financial circumstances.” 

Undergraduate students with a family income of less than $200,000 can expect to attend MIT tuition-free starting fall 2025, reports Maria Papadopoulos for Boston 25. “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,” Papadopoulos reports. “Graduates benefit from the lifelong value of an MIT degree, with an average starting salary of $126,438 for graduates entering industry.”

Undergraduate students at MIT with families earning less than $200,000 can expect to attend MIT with free tuition beginning fall 2025, reports Travis Anderson for The Boston Globe. “The $200,000 threshold for free tuition was raised from the current level of $140,000, while the $100,000 threshold is an increase from this year’s ceiling of $75,000,” Anderson writes. “MIT said it has earmarked $167.3 million for need-based financial aid this year to undergraduates, up roughly 70 percent from a decade ago.”

Undergraduate students with a family income of less than $200,000 can expect to attend MIT tuition-free beginning fall 2025, reports Leah Sarnoff for ABC News. “Additionally, students whose family income is below $100,000 will see their entire MIT experience paid for, including tuition, housing, dining, fees and an allowance for books and personal expenses,” writes Sarnoff. 

As part of an effort to increase affordability for students and families, MIT undergraduate students with a family income below $200,000 a year can expect to attend MIT tuition-free, starting in fall 2025, reports Emily Piper-Vallillo for WBUR. “Many families are concerned about the cost of college,” says Stu Schmill, dean of admissions and student financial services. “We really want to send a message that coming to school at MIT is affordable and that cost should not stand in the way of a student applying.” 

Christian Science Monitor reporter Ira Porter spotlights undergraduate Subin Kim and his experience transferring from community college to MIT through the Transfer Scholars Network, which is aimed at helping community college students find a path to four-year universities. “Every student that we admit, we’re looking for academic excellence and personal excellence,” says Stuart Schmill, dean of MIT admissions and student financial services. “And the students that we’ve brought in from the Transfer Scholar Network and in general from community colleges are remarkable individuals.”

The New York Times reports that a new study from Opportunity Insights examines the advantage wealthy applicants have in gaining admission to highly selective universities, and shows that at MIT they were no more likely to attend than the average applicant with the same test score. Stu Schmill, dean of admissions and student financial services, notes: “I think the most important thing here is talent is distributed equally but opportunity is not, and our admissions process is designed to account for the different opportunities students have based on their income.”

Writing for Times Higher Ed, Prof. Carlo Ratti makes the case that in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action, big data and analytics could “help admissions officers quantitatively capture the kinds of disadvantages applicants face and the kinds of diversity they may represent.”

Chancellor Melissa Nobles discusses challenges facing higher education, touching on the importance of diversity, inclusion, and affordability in higher learning, as well as her research on race and politics. Nobles notes that MIT’s signature ability is “to foster excellence in fundamental research and education and then to use that research and education to help tackle the world’s toughest problems. Our success rests crucially on our people. We support, we welcome, and we collaborate with some of the best faculty and staff around the world. And, of course, we attract the best students.”

Forbes contributor Michael T. Nietzel writes about the STARS College Network, “a new effort to help students from small-town communities and rural America enroll in and graduate from college” that MIT is participating in.

Inside Higher Ed reporter Susan Greenberg highlights how MIT is participating in the Small Town and Rural Students (STARS) College Network, which “aims to build new pathways to college for students who might not otherwise recognize all their options.”

Undergraduate Evelyn De La Rosa speaks with Boston Globe reporter Katie Mogg about her experience with the Transfer Scholars Network, a new program aimed at providing community college students with a pathway to four-year universities.  “We want to be as accessible as we can,” says Stuart Schmill, dean of Admissions and Student Financial Services. “The education is better for our students the more diverse the population is. We want to educate the best students from everywhere, from all backgrounds.”

MIT is part of the Transfer Scholars Network (TSN), an initiative aimed at opening a pipeline between community colleges and four-year colleges for transfer students, reports Michael T. Nietzel for Forbes. “As a part of TSN, we hope to send a message to community college students everywhere that you belong and you can succeed at a school like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,” says Jeremy Weprich, senior assistant director of admissions.  

MIT has been named the number 2 university in the U.S. in U.S. News & World Report's annual rankings, reports Abigail Hess for CNBC.

Chloe Smith, a student at Elliot Hudson College in Leeds, speaks with the BBC about being accepted to MIT. "I think through hard work and basically having a plan and thinking no matter what people say even though it seems like shooting for the stars, if you are willing to look for the opportunities you can follow them and achieve amazing things,” says Smith.