ha did you reserve your spot at both places?

I was debating doing that, was in your almost exact same situation last week. I ended up going with MIT but it was an extremely tough call that kept me up at night.

There are other scholarships around...AIA Connecticut (or your home state) has some that my friend won last year (not sure how much it's for) but you're still gonna compete with other top-notch students to get it so it's not a guarantee. There are others you just gotta do some research.

What I gathered talking with current students at MIT...The TA and research positions aren't extremely numerous but they do pay well...I wouldn't say "much better" but definitely better than Yale.  I also talked to a kid that started out with half-tuition fellowship but applied to some others and ended up getting full-ride his 2nd and 3rd year. Talked to another girl that got a research position at the MediaLab which pays $1800/month. But once again you'll still have to compete with other students...it's a gamble any way you go.

Talking to older people in architecture, the #1 thing they told me about going to grad school was to not burden myself with a huge amount of debt. There's a girl down the hall that has 90k debt and she says it's making her life way more difficult. She went to a prestigious school but regretted not going to a state school or something cheaper. 

Anyways good luck...I'm not an expert just passing long the information I gathered. They're both great options and you shouldn't stress about it too much. 

@Lanscape

I've also gotten into Yale with slightly more $$ than you. Apart from the TA/ RA positions, there are some student employment possibilities at the Urban Design Workshop/ Urban Ecology Lab. But I think these are quite limited.

If you can land a TA position for an undergraduate class within Yale College, they paid much better than the SoA, $7-8K a semester five years ago.

@ Ryan McLaughlin

I reserved a spot at MIT, but then got accepted off the wait-list at Yale two days ago.  It's been a crazy 48hrs for sure, but I decided to stay with MIT today.   

Yale came back to try and offer more money, but my gut was telling me MIT for some reason.  MIT and Yale are two very different schools, and it seems crazy to be on the fence about the decision.    

I personally don't understand how architecture students can so willingly let themselves get into triple-digit debt.  Who wants to be paying off money for the next 10 or even 20 years of your life? 

Anyways, see you this fall I guess! 

isnt MIT a better school anyway?

yes I second that MIT is definitely better nowadays

overall