Class of 2029’s demographic profile echoes previous year’s decline in racial diversity
First-year class sees increase in Pell Grant-eligible students, from 24% in 2024 to 27% in 2025
Vivian Hir–The Tech
In mid-October, MIT Admissions released the first-year class profile for the Class of 2029. As displayed in the profile, the demographics of the 1,155-person class did not differ significantly from the 1,102-person class of 2028. However, changes to reporting methodology altered the formatting of this data.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) is a system of 12 survey components conducted annually that gathers data from every college that participates in federal student financial aid programs. Following a Jan. 20 executive order that officially recognized two sexes, the IPEDS methodology requires institutions to replace the terms “gender,” “men,” and “women,” with “sex,” “male,” and “female,” respectively, and to eliminate “non-binary” as a gender option.
Furthermore, under the IPEDS methodology, applicants and students can no longer be counted under more than one racial or ethnic category. This means that multi-racial Hispanic students are counted only as Hispanic; non-Hispanic multi-racial students are counted as “Two or More” and removed from all other counts.
Stu Schmill ’86, Dean of Admissions and Student Financial Services, wrote in an email to The Tech that MIT did not change the way students report their identity in 2025. Instead, the Institute has chosen to use the IPEDS methodology to publish data across all websites. In the past, different websites, including the Registrar’s website and the Common Data Set, used different methods of reporting.
MIT reported that the Class of 2029 was 38% Asian American, 6% Black or African American, 13% Hispanic or Latino, 23% White or Caucasian, 7% “Two or More,” and 11% international. Previous first-year profiles did not report a separate “Two or More” category for multiracial students and instead counted them in every category with which they identified, including for Hispanic students. Thus, in previous years, the sum of all percentages could exceed 100%.
Moreover, comparisons between this year’s data and older profiles may be limited, especially for groups with higher concentrations of multiracial students. However, according to Schmill, using IPEDS methodology, the classes of 2027 and 2028 were 9% and 4% Black or African American, respectively, suggesting that Black enrollment has increased in the past year, despite still being lower than 2027’s percentage.
From 2024 to 2025, the number of first-year students eligible for Pell Grants increased by 12.5%, from 24% to 27%. Additionally, in 2020, only 18% of students received Pell Grants, meaning that the fraction of Pell-eligible students has increased 50% in five years. The federal government provides these grants to students based on need; unlike student loans, students are not required to pay back their Pell Grants.
According to Schmill, this increase in Pell-eligible students may come largely from MIT’s new financial aid program announced in Nov. 2024, which allows all students with family income below $200,000 to attend tuition-free. Schmill wrote, “This policy was announced between Early Action and Regular Action, and we saw a spike in our Regular Action applications after the new policies received national press attention.” Schmill also said that the Institute has increased the number of students from rural communities each year since MIT began participating in the Small Town and Rural Students (STARS) program.
Schmill wrote that although federal budget cuts have “created new challenges” for MIT Admissions, the office continues to endeavor to reach all students, including those who “might not otherwise think MIT would be a good fit [for them].”