MIT will raise tuition by 5 percent for the 1997-98 academic year to
$23,100, a hike of $1,100. The cost of room and board will go up an average
of 3.1 percent, putting the overall cost for tuition, room and board at
$29,650, an increase of $1,400, or 4.6 percent.
For the coming year, there will be no increase in the self-help component
of the student budget, which will remain at $8,600. This is the amount that
students are expected to provide from MIT term-time work, loans or savings
before receiving scholarship assistance. This is the first time since 1989
that the self-help amount has not increased (MIT reduces the self-help
requirement for students from families of very low income by as much as
$3,500).
Nearly 60 percent of this year's Massachusetts Institute of Technology
undergraduates receive financial aid based on need - through a combination
of scholarships, loans and MIT term-time jobs. The average aid for a needy
student this year was $20,730. The median annual income for families that
qualify is $55,000.
The increases, approved by the Executive Commitee of the MIT Corporation on
Thursday, March 6, were announced by President Charles M. Vest at a meeting
of the full Corporation the next day.
"I am pleased that for the third consecutive year we have been able to
constrain the rise in overall cost (tuition, room and board) of an MIT
education. Again, we have kept this increase to within about one and a half
percent of the CPI," President Vest said. "Beyond that, we remain firmly
committed to the practice of need-based financial aid for undergraduates.
We have worked hard to keep our operating expenses in check, and to keep
our financial aid programs strong. In addition, we have been making very
good progress toward our goal of raising $100 million in endowment for
financial aid by the year 2000. Over the past four years, we have raised
$53 million toward that goal."
Scholarship grants from MIT for the current year (1996-97) were about $26.2
million, or 77 percent of a total of $34 million in grants from all
sources. MIT-based grants for 1997-98 are projected to be $27.7 million.
Loans and term-time work account for an additional $20 million.
Some students from wealthier families who fail to qualify for financial aid
from MIT nevertheless receive scholarships from sources outside of MIT.
Such scholarships may be based on academic merit, geography, participation
in ROTC, or other factors. As a result, it is estimated that only about 29
percent of MIT students and/or their parents pay the full amount of
tuition, room, and board.
Tuition historically covers about half the cost of a student's education,
with the remainder met by earnings from the endowment and by unrestricted
gifts and grants. Tuition is one of three primary sources of revenue to
MIT, the others being federal and industrial research funds and private
support, primarily gifts and investment income.
