<p>I looked up both Concordia in MN and Central in Iowa, to see what the situation is with these schools. </p>
<p>First of all, more than 90% of the kids going to those schools qualify for financial aid which is absurd. The schools are clearly overpriced for their markets. And so I guess everyone gets a discount on the school rather than trying to meet more of the need. It boggles my mind the way these schools work. Practically everyone is accepted. </p>
<p>For merit aid, however only 14% of those on financial aid at Concordia get the money that’s in their pure merit pot. That comes out to 76 kids. 130 kids or 19.3 % get merit money with absolutely no need. There are 722 freshmen in the class, so every with no need gets merit money, but not everyone who has need gets merit money in this case.</p>
<p>At Central nearly everyone has financial need and everyone gets merit money. So I guess it is a discount the way it works. </p>
<p>I’ve not seen such models in the schools here. I don’t know about Central, but Concordia is a Christian school.</p>
<p>To find out the true cost of the school one would have to play around with the stats. It seems like everyone gets a discount, but those who have need do not get that need met. They do not meet a high % of need. But without knowing the distribution curve of those merit awards, it’s hard to tell what the discount is, since underneath that discount is some attempt to give the most desired students more. The kids with need are not the most desired as need is not often fully met with something like 20% of it being met, bit every kid who has no need still gets money.</p>