Re: #6
If it is mainly wealthy full pay families, then it is not a surprise that they will use money to greatly expand their kids’ choice of colleges, rather than be limited by financial limits like most students and families. E.g. NYU (with its poor FA and limited merit scholarships) is not a realistic application for students from non wealthy families (a high reach at best for merit scholarships for top end students), but wealthy families can include it in the application list.