That’s true to some extent, but as the OP demonstrates, not many people have heard of NESCAC or can name all of the colleges within it. IMHO, the reason they attract so many applicants is because they offer the most financial aid. Similarly, if you go down the list of T20 universities you will find pretty much the same thing; they are ordered more or less according to their tuition discount rate, i.e., the ratio of actual tuition collected versus what they would have collected if every student unit were full-pay. You will find spreads ranging from about 50% to about 35% at even the least wealthy.
Offer a good product at a decent discount and people will flock to it.