There's a financial issue here. Places like Princeton and Harvard (supposedly) select on merit, but charge fees based on financial means, as determined by the FAFSA formula. So a family earning say $75k/yr would pay $10k/yr instead of the sticker price of $60k/yr paid by people earning >$200k/yr. MIT (like most private and public universities) doesn't do this, so it is much more expensive.
MIT is very, very generous with financial aid. From what I've heard, they will make it work for each student they admit.
I stand corrected. At least I hope I do because that's good news. I can't find where I thought I saw that MIT didn't meet full need. Actually the links you gave make it look like you'd pay EFC+$6k. Is that right?
I saw this, but in the past I've seen other things that I couldn't find again just now.
http://www.usnews.com/education/bes...s-that-claim-to-meet-full-financial-needThe big thing to watch out for is when they say they're giving you $X when they're actually loaning you $X.
