Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology face an 8.5 per cent tuition increase next year, officials at MIT announced earlier this week. The increase of $400, which raises tuition from $4700 to $5100 will be effective starting with the 1979 Summer Session.

In a news brief released earlier this week MIT Chancellor Paul E. Gray said "increases in wage and salary costs, prices of services, energy, and materials essential to the operation of the Institute," caused the hike. As a non-profit organiza on facing a deficit, MIT is exempt from President Carter's suggested price increase ceilings.

Jack H. Frailey, director of the student financial aid office, said yesterday that 55 per cent of MIT students receive financial aid. "In general terms, it's almost certain that we cannot cover the increase with grant money. We will cope by providing more loan money and increasing the student wage rates," he said.

John E. Kasper, an MIT junior, said yesterday "I can see that if costs go up they should raise the tuition over what was charged this year, but I'm still not convinced that what they charged this year was fair."