If you choose to enroll in 2021-2022 instead of 2020-2021, you will reapply for need based financial aid using income and tax year info from 2019.
The money you have in the bank the day you file your financial aid forms is the asset number used to calculate your need based aid.
2019 is just about over. So…you should have a really good idea of what your 2019 income actually is.
In terms of your assets, you are predicting them, as well as predicting how much you will actually earn and spend. This is all guess work.
ETA…any income you earn in 2020 will be reported on your 2022-2023 financial aid application forms. Money earned in 2021 will be reported on your 2023-2024 financial aid application forms…so your income for these two years has the potential to affect two years of your financial aid awards…depending on the amount you earn.
If you get accepted at MIT, with very sufficient aid to attend, is there some other reason why you would take a gap year?