Hello and welcome to MIT’s graduate family community! We’re glad you’re here — you make our community even more vibrant and close-knit.
Here is a quick list of highlights offered for graduate student families:
- Childbirth and Parental Accommodation Policy
- Grant for Graduate Students with Children (eligibility restrictions apply)
- 15 days of back-up childcare service
- One-on-one meeting to learn about family resources
- Graduate families newsletter with family-focused programming and policies
- The Graduate Assistance Information Network – (GAIN)
More information on getting acclimated to the MIT campus and Cambridge/Boston community is below:
Timeline for admitted students
Upon acceptance of your offer
- Look at MIT family housing options
- For students with children 0-4: look at childcare options and get on wait lists for the fall
April
- April 16 – April 24, 2024: Apply for on-campus housing
- April 25 – April 30, 2024: Select on-campus housing unit
June
- June 5, 12-1pm: Pre-orientation webinar for incoming grad students with children. Hosted by Program Administrator for Grad Students with Children, Sarah Galison. Registration link coming soon!
August
- [Date TBD] Move into MIT housing
- August 25-30: Attend orientation
- For students with children 5 and up: register for public schools and after school programs
- If you are new to the area, establish your family with health care providers. See MIT Health to search providers in the MIT system.
- For those with spouses and partners: check out MIT Spouses and Partners Connect
September
- September 3: Attend the Grad Resource fair
- September 7: Attend MIT families orientation event
- Apply for the Grant for Graduate Students with Children (application will be open September 1-30)
- Optional: Sign up to be matched with another student parent for lunch
Housing information
MIT offers two on-campus housing options for families with children as well as an off-campus housing office to facilitate your housing search.
Housing for couples
& families with children
- MIT – Site 4
- MIT – Westgate housing
- MIT affiliated residences – Grad Junction
Housing for couples
- MIT – 70 Amherst
- MIT – Edgerton House
- MIT – Sydney-Pacific
Off-campus housing
MIT also provides resources to support those looking to live off-campus, including rental listings and reviews of lease documents.
Getting to know your city/town
- Explore the MIT campus and the surrounding area with this map
- Explore local restaurants and grocers
- Local city and town pages
Getting around town
- Shuttle services are available
- Public transportation, or the MBTA (“The T”), for getting around town
Public spaces in town
- Local playgrounds
- Swimming pools, wading pools, and spray decks
- Public libraries with kids programming:
Public safety
For the quickest response to on-campus emergencies, the MIT Police Department is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at (617) 253-1212 or dialing 100 from any MIT phone. You may wish to save the number on your mobile phone.
If you live off-campus and are experiencing an emergency, dial 911.
This information is used by the Office of Graduate Education to inform you about family-oriented programming, engage with you about policies that impact graduate student parents, and, on an aggregate level, helps MIT better understand the graduate student family needs.