^one thing I would stay away from is the whole “they got in with lower stats” game. First, you don’t really know that. Second, as other have pointed out, there may be, and likely are, other things those kids have, in addition to mjney and/or citizenship status, that the schools value.
As far as GPA, not all schools calculate GPA in the same way. Colleges get the information from HS counselors so what may appear to you to be a lower GPA, may not be. Being holistic, means the school looks at everything. not just test scores. One of the schools you mentioned, is test optional and does not take those scores into account.