Financial Aid Expectations

<p>My daughter is a Junior at a public school in Florida. She scored a 2240 on the SAT; she is in the running for a National Merit Scholar based on her PSAT score; she has scored 5's on her APUSH, AP Art History and AP Bio exams; she is currently taking AP Chem, AP ENG COMPO; AP Latin Vergil; AP Calc AB; and AP US History. She has been on the Cross-Country team for three years and is currently the Captain. She is a member of the math and latin clubs. She has a 4.0 unweighted GPA and I think a 4.5+ unweighted GPA. </p>

<p>My question is, given her scores and stats, how much money, if any, should she hope to expect to receive in scholarships to defray the current, unaffordable amount associated with attending MIT?</p>

<p>Sounds like you have a very smart daughter. It has been a while since I was a student at MIT but they are very good with their financial aid. However, you won’t know exactly what they offer until she is accepted. You can get an idea of how much you would have to pay by figuring out your expected family contribution (EFC) from one of many online calculators. They use the federal FAFSA formula/guidelines. One such calculator is at:
[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculator - Finaid)</p>

<p>If she is interested in MIT, read all she can about the admissions process on the MIT web site including the blogs that explain in general terms what kind of student they are looking for. Good luck to her but realize that MIT has many exceptional candidates, most of which have similar high grades and test scores. The competition is tough. MIT provides a great opportunity to it’s students and they are looking for students that will take advantage of that opportunity (meaning a demonstrated history of doing such in high school, not just getting good grades).</p>

<p>MIT only gives scholarships based off need. (If MIT gave academic scholarships, frankly, none of us would be paying tuition.) Her scores and stats are irrelevant to MIT scholarships.</p>

<p>Yes, forgot to mention that MIT is need only. PiperXP would probably know better than I; but in my day if you received an outside scholarship, MIT would deduct that amount from the amount that MIT offered (ie. a truely need based system).</p>

<p>MIT has a need based financial aid, so I guess her outstanding scores and achievements really have nothing to do with the money she is going get from MIT.</p>

<p>What about those applicants who live away from parents and do not receive any support from them already? Do they still have to include their parents’ income statements?</p>

<p>^ Talk to the financial aid office.</p>