What is the full process for getting Financial Assistance and my DEDP Personalized Price? – MITx MicroMasters® Programs

Requesting Financial Assistance

There are several ways to request Financial Assistance for DEDP MicroMasters courses.

From a DEDP Course Page on MITx Online. On a DEDP Course Page, you can:

Click the “Need Financial Assistance” link in the Course Page's "Price" box, or
Click the “Enroll Now” button and select the “Need Financial Assistance” link in the enrollment confirmation popup

Alternatively, on the checkout page for purchasing a DEDP course, you can request financial assistance by clicking the “Need financial Assistance” link above the Order Summary before completing your payment.

Submit Your Income

All of these links will direct you to the DEDP MicroMasters Program Financial Assistance Form, where you will need to self-report your annual income. You will be prompted to enter your current, gross, household income. Ensure that you also select the correct currency for your income.

Current refers to the income you have at the time that you submit your information, which may be different from that reported on official tax documentation—if, for example, you have recently lost employment or begun new employment
Gross refers to your income before any income taxes are accounted for
Household refers to you and anyone who helps support you financially.

What is a Household?

A "household" includes you and anyone who helps support you financially. If you share responsibility for paying for your housing, living expenses, and other necessities with a partner or spouse, you must include their income. If some or all of your expenses are paid for by someone else—for example, parents or guardians—you must report their income as well. If you pay for all of your own housing, living expenses, and other necessities then please report only your income.

You do not need to report the income of anyone you support financially, such as children. You do not need to include the income of other adults with whom you share housing expenses, such as roommates or housemates, if you do not share any other financial responsibilities with them.

Submitting Financial Documentation

Once you submit your income, the system may instantly approve your Personalized Course Price. Or the system may require that you submit Financial Documentation to verify your reported income.

If you are asked to submit documentation, follow the instructions presented to submit your documentation via DocuSign (which is free and secure). Please continue reading for more information about what documentation you may submit. Please ensure that your self-reported income and the income shown by your documentation match!

Acceptable Official Financial Documents

If possible, please submit a signed copy of the most recent federal tax return (or equivalent) for each income earner in your household.

Or, if tax return documentation is not available, please acquire and submit an income statement, which is a statement of annual salary, printed on the official letterhead of your employer, including the employer’s address and contact information, and signed by the employer. Any income statement you submit must be signed either by your employer or by an authorized notary with an official seal/stamp and contact information. If your household income is based on more than one earner, you must submit signed or notarized income statements for each earner.

Or, if neither of these documents is available, you may submit pay stubs, signed and notarized.

If your official documentation is not in English, please also provide a translation. This translation does not need to be notarized; you can translate the document yourself. Be sure to submit the original document with the translation!

If you are unable to obtain any official documents of the types detailed above to verify your income—for instance, if you do not participate in a tax system because of the laws or rules in your area—or if you are unable to have your documents notarized safely, please reach out to DEDP MicroMasters Support at dedp-micromasters-support@mit.edu as soon as possible!

Income Verification Process

If you are asked to verify your income, complete these steps:

Submit financial documents to verify the income you entered.
- If you or members of your household are employed please submit an acceptable document for each member of the household, as described above
  - A signed copy tax return
  - An income statement
  - Pay stubs, signed and notarized
- If you and all members of your household are unemployed, please submit one of the following:
  - tax returns in which each household member filed $0 income
  - proof of unemployment benefits, such as pay stubs from unemployment insurance checks
- If you cannot access any official documentation, please let us know, and we will provide an alternative
Sign and upload your documents via DocuSign. You will be directed to the DocuSign link after entering your income.
- DocuSign is strongly recommended! If you are unable to access DocuSign, please let us know as soon as possible
- If you are submitting a tax return in a language other than English, please submit a translation with the original tax return. We do not require the translation to be notarized or certified – you can translate the document yourself
You will receive an email indicating that your documents were received by our office
Wait to hear from the DEDP team. Documents are typically processed within 10-14 business days or earlier.
- If your documents are in order, they will be approved and you will receive an email confirming your Personalized Course Price
- If there are any conflicts or problems with your Financial Documentation, the DEDP team will reach out to you via email to help resolve any issues
Once you have received your Approved Personalized Course Price, you can start paying for DEDP courses! Review the FAQ How do I pay for DEDP courses? for more information

Please note:

If it is not possible to have your documentation notarized safely due to the COVID-19 pandemic or other circumstances, please let us know. This requirement may be waived.

What If You Make A Mistake — Or Need To Change Your Information?

If you accidentally submit incorrect information, or you need to change or update your income information for any other reason, please let us know! DEDP MicroMasters Support can reset your personalized price and allow you to re-do the Financial Assistance Process. Please reach out to Support at dedp-micromasters-support@mit.edu.

$100 Course Price Coupon Lottery

If you enter an annual income of less than $10,000 USD, you will be asked to submit documents to verify your income. If you submit your documents and receive your Approved Personal Course Price before the Documents Submission Deadline, you will be entered automatically into the $100 Course Price Coupon Lottery. Please review the FAQ section About the $100 Course Price Coupon Lottery for details.

Important Note:

You must begin by requesting Financial Assistance on MITx Online via one of the links described above. If you submit documents though DocuSign without starting the Financial Assistance Process on your MITx Online account, then the system will not recognize your DocuSign submission and you will not receive a response from the DEDP team.

More Information

For more information about...

enrolling in DEDP MicroMasters courses, please see: How to Enroll in DEDP courses?
submitting payments for DEDO MicroMasters courses, please see: How do I pay for DEDP courses?

Please see below for instructions that include screenshots: