Financial Aid
MITOC is excited to provide need-blind financial aid to any MIT undergraduate student. If finances are at all a factor in your participation in MITOC, please don’t hesitate to use this resource. We do not request any personal or financial verification. While this program is intended for MIT undergraduates, we are more than happy to extend it to MIT graduate or visiting students with an MIT affiliation. Our financial aid program covers the following expenses.
Membership
Email mitoc-trez@mit.edu requesting a membership fee waiver, and we will provide you with a complimentary 1-year membership (renewable until graduation). Please ensure that you have filled out our liability waiver beforehand.
Trip and Rental Fees
We will gladly waive all trip and rental fees for official MITOC trips. This includes 3-season, winter school, and circuses. Safety courses such as WFA/WFR/AIARE do not qualify (although desk credit can be used to pay for any trip or course). Please inform your trip leader and/or desk worker that you would like the fee waived. At this point we don’t have an automated way to do waive fees.
Gas and Travel Costs
Most MITOC trips require carpooling and reimbursing the driver for the travel costs. Please reimburse your driver immediately after the trip. MITOC will then reimburse you for the travel costs. Details on how get get reimbursed are available here, under “Financial Aid”.
Starter Kits
Most MITOC hikes require a headlamp, compass, and whistle (of which only the compass is rentable). We have a limited number of starter kits available, containing these three items. If you expect to participate in 3 or more MITOC hikes, we will gladly provide you with one of these kits (for permanent use, not a rental). The kits are available in the MITOC office; you can request them from deskworkers during office hours (no prior approval is necessary).
Other
Deskworkers and trip leaders will default to asking everyone to pay, but will gladly waive any of the above costs when requested. Please don’t hesitate to use this resource, and please be patient with reminding your trip leaders & desk workers. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions about this program, please reach out to mitoc-trez@mit.edu.