I think the generous merit aid has helped raise Denison’s profile. I’ve told my son that he’d be surprised how little it takes to disqualify a family from need based aid, and the price of college is astronomical. He’s noticed that some Div I schools that he considers “elite” have had higher admission rates in the past few years. But those schools are known to give little to no merit aid. They probably reserve funds to attract their athletes and tippy top students. So that leaves many people chasing schools who are known to give merit aid to a high percentage of students.
Denison also has the self inflicted problem of a housing crisis, since they require 100% of students to live on campus. The classes of 2025 and 2026 broke records. I already heard rumblings of housing issues last summer in the Denison parents FB page. That was especially true for the class of 2025, since the college was prioritizing incoming freshmen and upper class students. To be honest, this is a significant concern of mine (as a parent of a current 2026 student). I think everyone expected the admissions rate to drop this year, as they are could not accept as many due to the tight housing situation.