<p>“They are not open admission?”</p>
<p>Depends on program. The nursing program at our local community college is, quite literally, more selective than Harvard. </p>
<p>“Or viewed another way, many colleges, including the most selective, use implied family financial information in order to identify and admit students from lower economic tiers: not to keep them out, but to get them in.”</p>
<p>This is unknown, though clearly true for some. The five-year-old article in the Williams Record, for example, implied that there was a “target” (i.e., not too few, not too many). The lack of statistical variation, year over year, among many of the prestige institutions, suggest that a “target” (not too few, not too many) is likely a common feature. So, in the right situation, it could be a plus; in others (at the same school), a minus. And, as indicated in the Princeton and Amherst experiences, admissions didn’t have to do with other “objective” criteria - suggesting that there were plenty of well-qualified low-income students who were not being admitted prior to the school presidents deciding they wanted to have more of them.</p>
<p>(If I ran a prestige college, I would do it the same way.)</p>
<p>As to whether upper middle class White students are being squeezed out, I think the jury is out. (With the middle quintile of family income being $45-70k - I think it is more likely these are the students who are squeezed out.) The “no loan” policies were heavily aimed at upper middle class students - by turning loans into smallish scholarships, schools try to retain attraction to student families who can “almost” pay full freight, and the colleges get most of their money.</p>