MIT Increases Financial Aid for Low-Income Students

According to the latest data compiled by JBHE, in 2003 there were 591 students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who received a federal Pell Grant. These low-income students made up 14.3 percent of the student body at MIT. That year, MIT had the sixth-highest level of low-income students among the nation’s 25 top-ranked universities.

The typical student at MIT graduates with an average debt of nearly $20,000. Now, in an effort to keep pace with Harvard, Princeton, the University of Virginia, and several other high-ranking universities, MIT has taken steps to reduce the debt load of low-income students. Beginning this coming fall, the university will match the government’s Pell Grant award with an MIT grant for all students who receive Pell Grants. As a result, low-income students at MIT will be able to reduce their level of borrowing or reduce the hours they must work to offset the cost of their college education.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.