Financial need vs want

ucbalumnus
Thu, 25 Apr 2013 01:34:54 +0000

That would be upper income.

If you mean “rich” as a synonym for that, then yes. If you mean “rich” in terms of being able to buy politicians or large enough stakes in companies to influence their management, then that is a small subset of the upper income.

Obviously, the list price of many colleges is such that many upper income people may not be able to afford to pay list price, meaning that, in the absence of financial aid and scholarships, they would be expensive luxury goods limited to the upper end of the upper income (or those with substantial built-up wealth from before).

The colleges, of course, are just being shrewd capitalists in practicing price discrimination to get the maximum revenue from the customers who are able and willing to pay higher prices, while still getting some revenue from those whom they desire (since student academic credentials raises the college’s prestige and attracts more students) but cannot pay as much.