You are correct. But need blind isn’t a guise for the “highly rejective” colleges. There are SO many qualified applicants; there are so many institutional needs. Admitting the class you want which just happens to more or less jive with your financial aid budget is not that hard when you get to reject 94% or so of your applicants. So you’ve admitted two lacrosse stars who live in a housing project? Even better. Costs your budget more (so you are over budget by a skootch) but the value to the student body is much higher than admitting the two lacrosse stars from XYZ prep school. You’ve admitted a physics Olympiad winner who turns out needs more aid than average? It’s all good. The incremental costs of going over budget are miniscule compared to the overall payoff to the U.
If the class agent for my class sent out a mass email to everyone who had contributed to our First Gen endowment fund saying “The U has just admitted 10 incredibly talented disadvantaged kids who need more aid- what can we do” the call would be answered in under an hour. I have never donated a penny to one of the many athletic endowments; I really don’t care about attracting a world class football coach. But more money for exceptional kids? This I can get behind. And believe me- my little donation is nothing compared to the really successful (and generous) members of my graduating class who have 7 and 8 figure capacity.