<p>You know, Thumper, I did include that in my answer, but it seemed to me to be a pretty weak one considering that those kids wanting financial aid will have applied for it. Most merit aid is supposed to be largely merit, though I suspect that the economics are examined as well. My guess is that there may be kids who do not apply for fin aid because they don't want to be "begging for alms" or feel very strongly that it is a waste of time because they've heard of others in similar financial situations not getting anything. Merit might ring another bell for them and get them to fill out the danged form. But it seems to be a weak scenario to me.</p>