Reply to Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Reed is the most underrated (and intentionally so).[/quote]

Sigh....Why is Reed 80,000 a year with no merit aid? Super sad to take it off the list. [/quote]

Merit aid is not based on the price of tuition. Merit aid offered by colleges is used to game the rankings. Reed is wholly uninterested in giving money to wealthy, high stats kids to up its rankings on USNews. Also, many, many highly regarded colleges and universities are now charging around $80K for tuition, room, and board--regardless of whether they offer merit aid or not.[/quote]

That is an unfair assessment of merit aid.  All colleges want to attract the best students they can (and climb the rankings).  Need blind financial aid is also a tool to attract students who might otherwise feel disadvantaged in the application process.  Does merit aid really target the wealthy?  All things being equal, a wealthy kid would go to the most prestigious school he gets into, not the one that is providing the largest discount.  Merit aid therefore really targets the middle class or upper middle class kid who qualifies for little or no financial aid.  In the context of LACs, a family that is borderline for need based aid would probably hesitate to shell out 80k a year (versus much cheaper in state alternatives, for example) and would be wise to do so.  So if such a kid wants the LAC experience, merit aid may be the only possibility. Should this kid be denied that opportunity?  Only lower middle class and wealthy kids should have access to it?

Your attitude is very snotty.  Schools that provide merit aid are doing a tremendous service to families in the middle and appropriately rewarding some of our country's best, hardest working kids.[/quote]

With the exception of the wealthiest colleges, financial aid offices have to make choices how they give out monies to familes, and rightly so they prioritize the neediest families. I do not see anything "snooty" about that. 
Your frustration really should be targeted towards financial aid calculators, which colleges use to determine who should get aid. [/quote]

I have no problem with schools that only offer need based aid, but I also have no problem at all with schools that offer merit based aid in addition to need based aid, and as I explained, I think it is very valuable that these schools exist and provide options to students whose families are not poor but also not rich enough where 80k a year makes sense for a bachelors degree.[/quote]

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