4 ms·

The article claims 80% of American households meet this threshold. I wonder what % of their incoming class (say restricted to Americans) meets this threshold.

chews 2y ago
That's a great question, I'd bet it's fair to say that 80% of their applicants would not qualify, and yet it opens the door for some really deserving humans. (Not being able to afford it is why I didn't go to MIT, I also wasn't accepted at Cal, yet UCLA (and all of the UC system for that matter) was under 4,000 a year and that's what my folks and I could afford so that's where I studied.)
dleink 2y ago
Princeton has had a similar rule since 2001. Their current number is $100k. 25% of students pay nothing to attend. [0] [0] https://www.princeton.edu/news/2024/03/29/princeton-trustees-set-2024-25-budget-increasing-spending-undergraduate-financial https://www.princeton.edu/news/2024/03/29/princeton-trustees... (go tigers)
- WorkerBee28474 2y ago
  Approximately 60% of American households earn less than $100K. That's quite a difference in relative size.
  - jknoepfler 2y ago
    Households with earners in their 20's and early 30's don't tend to have a lot of children of university age. One would want to use the median income of households with university-aged children. (Median income by age rises sharply from 20->40, then flatlines... the median age of a mother is around 27?)
    - DebtDeflation 2y ago
      I'd also think you'd want to adjust by geography based on COL. A two earner family earning $200K in SF or NYC is different than one earning that in suburban Arkansas.
  - kjkjadksj 2y ago
    The population of people who apply to a nice college, or even college at all, is probably not representative of the average american household
clusterhacks 2y ago
Use College Navigator for these types of questions: https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=MIT&s=all&id=166683#finaid https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=MIT&s=all&id=166683#... That link says 72% of incoming freshman in 2022-2023 received financial aid. Also has a full-time beginning net cost average of just under $22,000 in 2022-2023. It's not a perfect source of data, but there is enough on College Navigator to let you dig into it a bit and compare to other schools.
- brewdad 2y ago
  Note that aid includes federal student loans though. They may have needed to come up with $22,000 out of pocket but also have taken on thousands more in loans that will need to be paid back. If they don't have the $22,000, then private student loans at much worse terms are likely required.
  - seanmcdirmid 2y ago
    The article actually goes into more detail: > Last year, the median annual cost paid by an MIT undergraduate receiving financial aid was $12,938 , allowing 87 percent of students in the Class of 2024 to graduate debt-free. Those who did borrow graduated with median debt of $14,844.

chews 2y ago

That's a great question, I'd bet it's fair to say that 80% of their applicants would not qualify, and yet it opens the door for some really deserving humans. (Not being able to afford it is why I didn't go to MIT, I also wasn't accepted at Cal, yet UCLA (and all of the UC system for that matter) was under 4,000 a year and that's what my folks and I could afford so that's where I studied.)

dleink 2y ago

Princeton has had a similar rule since 2001. Their current number is $100k. 25% of students pay nothing to attend. [0] [0] https://www.princeton.edu/news/2024/03/29/princeton-trustees-set-2024-25-budget-increasing-spending-undergraduate-financial https://www.princeton.edu/news/2024/03/29/princeton-trustees... (go tigers)

WorkerBee28474 2y ago
Approximately 60% of American households earn less than $100K. That's quite a difference in relative size.
- jknoepfler 2y ago
  Households with earners in their 20's and early 30's don't tend to have a lot of children of university age. One would want to use the median income of households with university-aged children. (Median income by age rises sharply from 20->40, then flatlines... the median age of a mother is around 27?)
  - DebtDeflation 2y ago
    I'd also think you'd want to adjust by geography based on COL. A two earner family earning $200K in SF or NYC is different than one earning that in suburban Arkansas.
- kjkjadksj 2y ago
  The population of people who apply to a nice college, or even college at all, is probably not representative of the average american household

clusterhacks 2y ago

Use College Navigator for these types of questions: https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=MIT&s=all&id=166683#finaid https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=MIT&s=all&id=166683#... That link says 72% of incoming freshman in 2022-2023 received financial aid. Also has a full-time beginning net cost average of just under $22,000 in 2022-2023. It's not a perfect source of data, but there is enough on College Navigator to let you dig into it a bit and compare to other schools.

brewdad 2y ago
Note that aid includes federal student loans though. They may have needed to come up with $22,000 out of pocket but also have taken on thousands more in loans that will need to be paid back. If they don't have the $22,000, then private student loans at much worse terms are likely required.
- seanmcdirmid 2y ago
  The article actually goes into more detail: > Last year, the median annual cost paid by an MIT undergraduate receiving financial aid was $12,938 , allowing 87 percent of students in the Class of 2024 to graduate debt-free. Those who did borrow graduated with median debt of $14,844.