Silly opinion piece…schools looking for full pay want the $ it brings in…schools looking to add stats are looking for stats, not money from the kid. If their stats go up, they figure they’ll get more donations…leading to better available FA. Even if it costs something from FA to start. There is a method to their madness. Does it work? Not sure. To me it is like saying you have 1 ear of corn to plant, and 5 hungry people. Do you let one person eat the corn? What good will that do versus planting them hoping to feed all 10 eventually.
Very few meets full need schools give significant merit. Why? They don’t need to boost anything to drive donations…
“Merit aid AIDS in funding low income students” would be a better description.