Colleges Divert 20 Years of Aid Toward Wealthy Students With Merit Grants
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 21
Colleges Divert 20 Years of Aid Toward Wealthy Students With Merit Grants
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 21
Summary
Two recent analyses found colleges are increasingly using merit aid to recruit affluent students, pulling money from limited need-based aid budgets and shrinking support for lower-income applicants.
At an $80,000-a-year college, a $20,000 merit award to a wealthy student still nets the school $60,000, versus just $10,000 from a low-income student needing $70,000 in aid.
The former admissions dean writing the essay said that revenue logic, not student need, drove millions of dollars in awards to families who could already afford tuition.
The piece argues merit aid has become a symptom of a broader U.S. higher-education funding squeeze, with decades of defunding pushing colleges to prioritize net tuition revenue.