Financial Aid at MIT is pretty generous. The offer from MIT was better then our In-State public Universities, and not by a little, it was about half of the price. In fact we ended up paying way less then the average cost of attendance, because my daughter chose a self-cooking dorm. Also there is little to no cost for books at MIT. On top of that, MIT will reduce their Student Contibution from 5500 to 3400 this year. Of course it all depends on the parents income, but for us it worked out great.