<p>Tulane is possibly THE most scholarship-generous school I've seen. $10,000 and $25,000 and full rides galore. And the fact that they do it only with a $900,000,000 endowment is all the more amazing.</p>
<p>Actually, according to the last report I have seen it was $1.048B. <a href=“http://tulane.edu/tef/upload/FY-2013-Annual-Report.pdf”>http://tulane.edu/tef/upload/FY-2013-Annual-Report.pdf</a> Don’t want to shortchange it $100,000,000+</p>
<p>The scholarships like the DHS and Paul Tulane are, I believe, paid for through specific gifts whose investment returns cover the cost. For example, some years ago David Filo, cofounder of Yahoo and a Tulane grad, gave $30MM to Tulane that I believe was designated specifically augment the DHS awards, which he had when he attended Tulane. I am not sure about the partial scholarships, but I would guess they are simply viewed as a discount on tuition. In other words, just less revenue that is received as compared to a full pay student. Clearly one can choose different ways to do the bookkeeping on all this. No matter how one does it, in the end there is a revenue line for tuition paid. But certainly with something like a Stamps Foundation full ride scholarship, I have to imagine that the Foundation sends a check to Tulane that covers the cost of those 5 scholarships, so those at least do not come out of the endowment earnings, I wouldn’t think. But I don’t know the fine details.</p>
<p>Extensive merit scholarships (as practiced by Tulane, Miami, USC etc.) are really just discounts. The school has a high sticker price, then gives out a lot of merit schollies, and then collects the net revenue. </p>
<p>These days the average private college in the U.S. operates on net revenue that is about a 40-45% discount to the sticker price. Seats in English 101 are like seats on a commercial airline flight. Everyone gets the same product (excluding first class) but everyone pays a different price. The airline/school operates off the aggregate/average revenue generated by all the different prices paid. </p>
<p>The super-elite schools direct their discounts based mostly on financial need. The model for schools like Tulane is to direct a good chunk of their discounts to smart kids.</p>
<p>Tulane is amazingly generous with merit money. My son (now a Sophomore). Gets $22k a year in merit money, and some of his friends get even more. It’s most welcome!</p>