<p>That’s true of all virtually all private schools, not just the “mega-endowed.” Even at the small private day school that my younger kids go to, tuition (which, while not as expensive as BS is still pretty hefty) doesn’t cover the school’s full operating costs. The school uses a combination of the return on its endowment plus annual giving to meet the difference. Because very few parents give as much in annual giving as the per student shortfall is, pretty much all the kids at that school too are, as you say, FA recipients.<br>
I would also say to SharingGift that while the analysis is interesting, just looking at the overall percentage of kids receiving FA doesn’t necessarily tell you that much. Some schools may be spreading essentially the same amount of money out over more students, others may choose to focus their FA more narrowly and thus have more full FA (or close to full) students. Just to say that one school has 54% of students receiving FA and another school has 47% doesn’t tell you how much each school is actually spending on FA.</p>