How do I obtain money for my travel expenses?

You should check out the Apply for aid section of our website! It will walk you through the general process step by step for domestic or international applicants. Remember, financial aid application deadlines vary depending on if you are an Early or Regular Action applicant, or a continuing student.

MIT undergraduate and graduate students are automatically eligible for participation in MIT’s summer session; however, MIT does not offer need-based aid from institutional sources to undergraduates for summer classes.

MIT’s commitment is to aid its undergraduate students for the nine-month academic year (the fall and spring terms). If you’re planning to attend MIT’s summer term, contact your financial aid counselor to receive information on other possible funding sources. Sometimes borrowing additional funds may be necessary.

Current students can view their offer in our Online Financial Aid System.

Prospective first-year students can access their offer through the MIT Application Portal until mid-May, after this time it can be viewed in our Online Financial Aid System.

After you have completed the necessary loan requirements, your federal loans will disburse to your student account once your term registration becomes official, usually within the first two weeks of the term. Federal loans will be split evenly between all registered terms for the academic year. The amount of your federal loan will always be slightly more than the amount disbursed to your student account due to federal loan origination fees.

Private loan funds are received from your third-party lender and therefore the date the funds are sent to MIT is determined by your lender. Most private lenders will notify you that your funds have been sent to MIT.

Students who believe that it is impossible to provide parental information may submit the Noncustodial Profile Waiver Request form through the College Board’s secure IDOC platform. Waivers are reviewed once a student has been admitted to the Institute, along with the rest of your financial aid application. Please note that the Noncustodial Profile will remain in the financial aid requirements checklist as a required document until your waiver request is reviewed.

Your FAFSA will appear as “In review” (meaning it has not been processed) in your studentaid.gov account and no corrections can be made until it is processed. You will receive an email once it is fully processed, letting you know that your FAFSA information has been sent to MIT.

We understand that life happens and sometimes deadlines are missed. There is no need to ask for an extension—just submit your application as quickly as possible. Late applicants will receive their financial aid decision later than those who submit by the deadline, but we try to review all applications as quickly as possible.

There are no penalties for late applications. However, financial aid applications must be received before the end of the academic year, in order to be considered for aid in that academic year. For most students, that is mid-May. For those only attending in the fall, you must submit your aid application by mid-December. If your application isn’t completed by that time, you will not be eligible to receive either MIT or federal financial aid for that academic year.

Students submit insurance waivers each year through MIT’s enrollment partner Academic Health Plans. Directions on how to submit a waiver can be found on their website. 

Returning students must submit a new waiver each academic year.

If you have any questions about this process, please contact Academic Health Plans or call them directly at  855.451.3550.

You must request additional terms of aid if you will be enrolled beyond the standard number of terms required for an undergraduate degree. The standard number of terms is eight for students who entered as first-year students, and six terms for transfer students. You must submit the extended aid form as well as all financial aid materials by February 15.

Please note: Once you complete all of your undergraduate degree requirements and have been enrolled for the standard number of terms, you no longer qualify for an MIT Scholarship or federal financial aid as an undergraduate.

We know this is an important issue for many students, and we are actively working with the MIT Information Systems &Technology team, as well as our outside vendors, to make this change possible. Once implemented, a student’s preferred name will replace their legal name on items like the bill, financial aid notices, and email communications. It can not replace the legal name on items like the FAFSA, loan promissory notes, or tax documents.