<p>Let’s take an example:
Family income is $150K. You go to one of the Ivys, they make you pay $15K a year and give you ~$40K in financial aid for needs (not scholarship).</p>
<p>You apply to the next 100 schools, not Ivys. Chances are that you may get full-ride scholarship, you may get partial rides, you may get no merit aid at all. You may, on average, have to pay out of pocket more than $15K a year.</p>
<p>The claim that Ivys do not give merit aid means very little. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. The claim that the students who go to Ivys are all needy, poor students who get to go there only because they are poor while your precious sons and daughter don’t get to go there nor get the money because your family is rich is also a lot of bulls.</p>