<p>I would say that Olin would certainly have less applicants if not everyone got free tuition. I also know, however, that many years there are students that turn down Olin because they can’t afford it compared to other schools. Olin still costs about $14,000/year when you count room, board, books, etc. That’s a lot of money. The specific cases I know were women who got more complete “full-rides” at other top schools and couldn’t justify the extra expense of Olin. Even I, who was part of the first graduating class and therefore also received a room scholarship, ended up paying more to go to Olin than another very good engineering school. At that school I would have received room, board, laptop, everything. I also know of students who came to Olin because they were pressured by their parents to go to the cheapest good school they could find. I know of at least one student who left after 1-2 years because she was pressured by her parents because of the money and ended up hating it.</p>
<p>So money is a factor but not always in Olin’s favor. I think more than choosing to go to Olin, people choose to look at Olin in the first place because of the tuition scholarship. But once people visit (at Candidates Weekend for instance), it often comes down to fit. But of course, money still can be a factor.</p>
<p>That being said, I know that both Olin and MIT (where some of my friends went) are great schools. Any student would be lucky to attend either.</p>