The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced on Wednesday that it will make tuition free for undergraduates with a family income below $200,000 starting next fall, making college more affordable for more students. The school’s current bar for tuition-free attendance rests at $140,000.
MIT also stated that it would waive the full cost of education, including housing, dining, tuition, and other fees, for students with a family income below $100,000 beginning fall 2025 — up from its current level of $75,000 this year.
U.S. News ranked MIT the second-best global university for the 2024 to 2025 school year. The average cost to attend the school per year without aid is $85,960, with tuition accounting for $61,990 of that amount. MIT estimates that an undergrad receiving financial aid paid a median cost of $12,938 per year and that 87% of the Class of 2024 graduated debt-free.
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Social media users have responded positively to the news of MIT’s expanded aid. One former MIT undergrad, Michael Daugherty, stated that the new policy was “great news” and “life-changing to many.” He wrote that he has “always been grateful” for the financial aid he had access to while at the institution.
This is great news – I’ve always been grateful for the financial aid I had access to as an undergrad at MIT. Talent is not distributed by wealth, so keeping great education affordable will be life changing to many.
— Michael Daugherty ? (@mpdaugherty) November 20, 2024
MIT isn’t the only school that recently changed its financial aid policies. On Tuesday, the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) also raised the maximum income for full-tuition scholarships from $140,000 to $200,000 for the 2025 to 2026 school year.
UPenn will also stop considering a family’s home equity for their primary residence in its financial aid calculations.
The changes will cost UPenn about $6 million per year.
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