This came up at a parent/counselor group talk at my child’s Catholic high school and, as expected, the head of the counseling department suggested the colleges well know the rigor of the high school and take it into account. A couple week later, the high school hosted a forum with reps from local colleges. When the question was posed there, the rep from Providence College said that in terms of getting into the school there is not much of an issue but once it comes down to merit money they have more of a simplified look at gpa’s and there is no way for them to know, and factor in, rigor of schools into the merit money process.