Boy the colleges can’t win.
If they target their marketing money via mailers, social media, etc. to find kids who do NOT understand that they might qualify for need based aid, they get accused of cutting down too many trees, spending too much on advertising, “why did my kid get an invite to apply to U Chicago when everyone who knows her knows she hates cold weather”.
If they decide to pivot and conserve their $ for actual need based aid– and then hope that the media will pick up the story and do the advertising for them– which happens some but not all of the time- they’re accused of being duplicitous because “How is this news? Everyone knows that XYZ college is tuition free for incomes up to X”.
I know kids who would LOVE Bryn Mawr– and who right now, have no idea that they’d qualify for aid. The school sounds snooty and high end; they’ll just apply to City College, live at home, and not bother with private college applications.
I think any publicity around financial aid is good publicity. Despite our collective boredom on CC there are still families out there who have no idea how need based aid works. Their kids HS champions the athletic scholarships- so if your kid doesn’t play football or basketball, you assume everything is off the table except for a public, commutable option.