Olin provides a 50% scholarship for everyone and does really well at financial aid. I currently go here :). In the beginning of the school's lifetime, everyone

Olin provides a 50% scholarship for everyone and does really well at financial aid. I currently go here :). In the beginning of the school's lifetime, everyone had a 100% scholarship. It's a common tactic for schools to say their college is the same price as MIT/Harvard but not actually cost that much. Plus, many schools are moving towards a co-op/hand son/project-based model, even public ones. University of Waterloo is such an example, and many state schools I know are also transitioning into a project-based model. It's not that more expensive than testing - especially given the fact that everyone has a computer, 3d printers and workshops are relatively cheap, and most undergrad projects aren't that expensive. Students tend to get internships, pay for their school, and move into high paying jobs immediately out of school because how much experience they have, even if they have to give up some theoretical basis. That being said, Olin generates many grad-school students that do well at research.