That school has a pricing model that inflates tuition and gives discounts calling it merit aid. That gets the wealthy kids in the door to still pay a large percentage of the cost that helps to subsidize others. Without that model, your relative would go elsewhere and the school would probably grant less need based aid. Assuming this is not a huge endowment school.
Will the new Coalition Application cause more problems than it solves?And other admissions proposals
sue22
my dad got a really good chunk for school years ago (he came from a midwest industrial town) and i remember as a little kid seeing him write checks for 50.00 or 100.00 bucks to the school. I asked him what it was for he told me the school helped him and he wants to help them back. it was not a lot but what he could give. he told me the school hopes that people pay if forward (not his exact words) and that some day if he has lots of $$$$ that he will give a large amount of money to the school. he felt a personal obligation to the school…since the school helped him and he wanted to help back if he could.
people on strictly merit could donate if they felt the need it would be nice.(like after they graduate mom and pop could say here’s 100,000 put my name on a plaque in the bathroom or something) but I think people on merit/financial support should definitely pay it forward if they can (even if it is 50.00 dollars a year. )
HS students and families might be better served by basing admission mostly on a single factor: performance on a standardized test that is harder and more comprehensive than the SAT/ACT. Wait-list the highest-scoring N students who express interest in each school. Send an automated “invitation to apply” to everyone on each school’s scoring waitlist. Then accept/reject those choosing to remain on the waitlist based on Oxbridge-style, faculty-administered, academic interviews.
http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/interviews/sample-interview-questions