MIT has set tuition and fees for 2009-2010 and has budgeted an additional $7.6 million for financial aid enhancements, including an expansion in aid to middle-income families that will ensure even more students have access to an affordable education.
While tuition and fees will increase 3.8 percent to $37,782, the smallest increase in eight years, the total undergraduate financial aid budget will rise more than 10 percent to $81.6 million. That marks the 10th straight year in which MIT's financial aid enhancements have outpaced rising tuition. This year, understanding that college costs can also present challenges for middle-income families, MIT's financial aid budget includes an additional $1.4 million to help families earning more than $75,000 a year.
The latest initiatives build on MIT's long tradition of ensuring that it remains affordable to talented students from a full range of economic backgrounds. The Institute's student population is already among the most economically diverse of America's top-ranked universities, partly as a result of MIT's commitment to "need-blind" admissions and to meeting the full need of all undergraduates it admits. Moreover, MIT doubled its undergraduate financial aid budget between 2001 and 2008.
"In these tough financial times, MIT recognizes that students and their families need our help more than ever. That's why we are pleased to be able to not only maintain our commitment to need-based aid but to be able to allot more funds to financial aid overall," said Dean for Undergraduate Education Daniel Hastings.
"We want all students to be able to afford to attend and not worry about finances," Hastings added, "so they can get the maximum educational benefit from their time at MIT."
To increase support for students, MIT in October 2008 launched the Campaign for Students with the goal of raising $500 million or more for undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships, educational innovation and student life. This support is vitally important to sustaining need-blind admissions and educational excellence at MIT.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on February 25, 2009 (download PDF).
