MIT financial aid really not good at all?

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I am a junior just playing around with the net price calculators for the colleges I'm interested in. My parents let me borrow the tax forms they just filled out, so everything I plugged in was exact. We make ~$160,000 and live in Long Island, NY. This number might be a little high for FA, but that number goes much further in Missouri than it would here. Anyway, I am asking this because MIT's calculator gives me a cost of attendance of around 50k. So it gives me 5k in grants and 5k self-help? For a school with an endowment so high, why is this number so low? I even tried Harvard, Stanford and a couple others, and they weren't significantly better...
My parents said if I get into Harvard, they'd stretch a little and fork over 30k if they had to, but otherwise no. Also, there are people around here who are accepted to these schools, and have similar incomes to that of my family. How do they afford it?</p>

<p>My sympathies. That’s a lot of dough. The hard fact is that the more you make the lesser the assumed need. Parents willing to pay $30K a year is pretty cool though. But you have to convince them to extend the offer to MIT which is just as marketable (if not more so in science and engineering than Harvard).</p>

<p>My family makes less than yours, we pay a similar amount, and it does not put enough of a burden on us to change our lifestyle. At least for us, MIT did a very good job of figuring out exactly how much we can pay; that is how much we pay.</p>

<p>There’s a wide range of family incomes and living situations in Long Island, so I don’t know anything about how expensive your home is, but I imagine that your family’s situation is similar to my family’s situation.</p>

<p>I am working during my time here and I intend to pay my family back every cent that they spent on my college education, possibly by paying for my younger brother’s education. An MIT education gives you the doors to do this after graduating. It will pay for itself.</p>

<p>You should look at the average starting salaries of MIT and Harvard graduates in your intended program. I would not be surprised if MIT graduates get paid more. Gather some data and ask your parents again.</p>

<p>I assume a large part of the applicants come from the coasts(NY/CA), both places with high cost of living. Does this mean most of them took out loans or whatever to come to MIT because it’s more “marketable?”</p>

<p>OP,</p>

<p>We are in So. Cal. where cost of living is high. My son is a freshman and we make less than half of what your family makes. Our EFC last year was about $10,800. I think this year it was $9,600. MIT’s aid was worse than Princeton, Caltech, and Vanderbilt. I think it was similar to Penn’s. (Son didn’t apply to Harvard or Stanford, so I can’t comment there) Both MIT and Penn included loans; Princeton, Caltech and Vandy did not. </p>

<p>I think the original package was about $9800 that we would owe. We appealed and got about $1500 more.</p>

<p>However, MIT allowed my son to bring in 6K of outside scholarship which effectually wiped out both the loan portion and the work study portion of my son’s package. That left a very doable amount for us, at least for his first year.</p>

<p>MIT encourages students to get outside scholarships to help cover the expenses. My son was most fortunate to be able to do that.</p>

<p>If he has to take out loans during his next three years, I hope that the amount will be small. I am not comfortable with much debt but that could be because we don’t have the means to help him out in the event he doesn’t find a job after graduation (But I hope that his degree from MIT would open doors for him). I think more affluent families are more comfortable with debt, but I could be wrong.</p>

<p>because 2-5 people can easily live on 110K.</p>

<p>I forgot to mention that I plan on going to grad school. About what lidusha said about MIT grads making $, does that mean graduates of the college or of the grad school?</p>

<p>Most salaries in industry for a scientist or a programmer are higher than salaries in academia, at least for the first few years. In both industry and in academia, a person with a PhD can get a higher salary than a person without a PhD. The exception is for software engineering; in this case a master’s degree pulls up your starting salary I think about 20 grand but people do not usually get PhDs.</p>

<p>If you’re in industry, the MIT degree will make a huge difference in your starting salary and your ability to find a job. If you’re in academia, the MIT degree will help you get your foot in the door (for grad school or jobs) but your research experience is the important part. You can graduate from MIT with no research experience and have a lot of trouble getting a position in academia. In this case you would need to work a few years as a lab tech and try again with that experience in your toolbox. (Alternatively you can actually take advantage of the amazing opportunities at MIT and graduate having worked with the top people in your field.)</p>

<p>MIT’s financial aid is based on your FAFSA-calculated EFC. It’s giving you very little money because your calculated financial need is, unfortunately, low.</p>

<p>My experience with MIT’s finaid so far has been that you can’t really hide income (whereas you can sort of fudge certain assets), so it’s unlikely you’ll get your cost too much lower. You can appeal your case if there are special circumstances, but if it’s just that the cost is higher than you’d like, then you’re unlikely to get anything.</p>

<p>I hope this won’t sound callous, but as awkwardpenguin said, one can easily raise a family of 5 on $110,000 a year. That’s MUCH more than most families of 5 make in America. Sending a child to college means cutting back for everyone, even high-income families. The reality of the situation is that your family likely can afford it, but doesn’t want to spend the money when there are cheaper options. But I guarantee none of those cheaper options are MIT ;)</p>

<p>One last thing – MIT always expects a $7,800 student contribution – $6,000 in loans, work study, outside scholarships, or cash, plus $1800 in summer earnings/cash. So even students who get a “full ride” are expected to come up with ~$8,000 which increases gradually to about $9,000 senior year. But your parents won’t be on the hook for that – you will be.</p>

<p>All the numbers seem correct here from my personal experience.
Caltech gave much more attractive package than that of MIT. After my wife called and we appealed twice, we got about $1000 more. The difference of the calculation methods are after-tax vs pre-tax. Caltech takes after tax number which makes more sense, we are getting old and need to save to 401k or other retirement plan.
The other statement is also true: MIT included loans; Caltech did not. I can’t speak for other colleges. So MIT is giving less from this perspective too.</p>

<p>Read the post about financial aid being a gift not a right, maybe it will put things into perspective.</p>

<p>I have a son who graduated from college a couple of years ago and a daughter that is just finishing her junior year. Both are MechE majors. We live in SoCal in what is probably an equally expensive area. My wife and I are not wealthy but do make a good salary. My went to a state school and got no aid what so ever. Daughter is in a private school and she gets some merit aid but still the majority of the cost is on us. </p>

<p>Although MIT has a good endowment. The purpose of it is to give opportunities to those that can not afford it. Your parents can afford it. It may cause some hardship, but they do make a good salary.</p>

<p>We figured the money situation out a long time ago and made some periodic investments to help pay for our kids schooling. Your parents should have done the same. Loans are available for you and for your parents. Kind of a pay me now or pay me later situation.</p>