Why do colleges offer merit scholarships?

<p>You’ve come up with your own Tier system.</p>

<p>The former USnews method was to list 1-50 as Tier 1…and to list 51-120 as Tier 2 and so forth. </p>

<p>Tier 2 is often referred to as the “mid-tiers”.</p>

<p>Now, USNews is listing about the top 200 schools as Tier 1 (which I don’t think many accept).</p>