<p>“Except for the fact that as a group, students from wealthy families score higher on the SAT/ACT than students from lower income families. Since most merit scholarships are tied to SAT/ACT performance, as a group, students from higher income families are more likely to get this form of ‘discounted’ tuition than students from lower income families, and this particular form of ‘tuition discounting’ tends to go to higher income families.”</p>
<p>That may be a outcome of merit aid, but I’d make the assumption that they are offering merit aid to people specifically because of very high SAT/GPA’s,in order to make their stats look better, and to attract students whom they think will do very well and have other options. Not to attract rich students and give them a discount at the expense of lower income families.</p>