But Cal tech is tiny compared to most, even the T20 schools. It can probably work up the 300 or so CSS forms it receives from accepted students in April than other schools could.
The amount that CB is making off the fees isn’t going to get colleges to drop the CSS. If they could process the information cheaper themselves, I think they would.
Many schools don’t have the capability to do what CSS does. Applicants pay the fee … if schools had to collect & process that information, it would be a cost to the school. It’s much easier to get files with processed information & load them into the school’s system. If each school had to do it themselves, it would add yet more cost to doing business … which would increase the cost to the student.
But you have to remember that Caltech’s FA office is also tiny. Any FA office is only staffed for the average number of FA applications it receives every year. The way Caltech operates (i.e. FA applications are processed after acceptances) means that it can keep even a smaller FA office, as other people in the admissions office can help with FA applications without conflict. As a matter of fact, the sequencial (rather than concurrent) processing of admissions and financial aid makes the need-blind policy more convincing.
Might be true for many schools - but I called out Stanford in particular - which turns down over 40,000 students a year. If they just did a first cut of students before requiring the CSS it would be better,