<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I was recently admitted to both MIT and Yale. I've been leaning more towards MIT (probably engineering), but the tentative financial aid awards I was given varied wildly - I need to pay approx. 24k a year for MIT, but only 8k a year for Yale (both based on need-based awards). Unless I'm mistaken, that's a fairly large difference. My question is, how would I go about asking MIT to reconsider my financial aid award? Like, I know I email them and such, but would I attach my Yale award as a pdf, or what would I say in the email body?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>MIT will only reconsider financial aid based on for-need reasons (ie, if forms were filed wrong in the first place, if a parent loses a job, etc). They won’t match another school’s offer.</p>
<p>I’ve heard of people who’ve appealed (successfully) because some other top school gave them a better package; I’m just not sure how I’d go about it. I’ve got to try, right? Because otherwise I have little choice, and it looks like MIT’s yield just took a hit.</p>
<p>MIT rarely makes Financial aid mistakes, but it has happened in the past (or heck maybe Yale has made the mistake). The most common source of FA errors lie in overseas applicants whose tax paperwork and financial affairs are very, very different to those found in the US.<br>
The first thing to check is whether the aid package that you received is roughly in line with the net price calculator that you will find on the financial aid website and which you could have used at any time (even before applying). You can find it here: <a href=“MIT Student Financial Services”>MIT Student Financial Services;
If there is a significant gap between the aid package that the NPC led you to expect and the aid that you received then you have the basis for a decent discussion with student financial services. Reasonable arguments turn on whether or not you can or cannot afford to go to MIT given the aid you have received, and on whether it is radically different from what you were led to expect (via the NPC). Yale gave me is not a good argument. This is not how MIT competes for students.<br>
In any event, the best place to start is with your assigned assistant director of financial aid. These are allocated based on the first letter of your surname. You will find these assignments here: <a href=“MIT Student Financial Services”>MIT Student Financial Services; E-mail or call your assigned assistant director and that will kick off any valid discussion and/or appeal.
Good luck</p>
<p>PS: For forty years, MIT would coordinate financial aid policies with the ivy league colleges, so that every school had the same approach to valuing family and student income and assets. Then in 1991, the US Justice department decided that this violated US anti-trust law, and took all of the schools to court. Now they have radically different approaches to aid. Columbia for example is need-aware for admissions for foreign applicants (whereas MIT is need blind for all). Some do not include the value of a family’s primary residence in calculating assets, others do. You will find many, many differences. But again, this is not how these schools compete for students.</p>
<p>
If you come to CPW, there will be opportunities there to set up meeting with financial aid officers to discuss your aid package. If you set up a meeting, be sure to bring (or have a parent bring) all the relevant documents so you can discuss adjustments.</p>