<p>The Gordon Winston study was based solely on SAT scores. The 2 1/2X figure was based on SAT scores that would currently qualify the students for admission to top-tier prestige private colleges, without any “special” admissions whatsoever.</p>
<p>But it takes work! It took Smith almost 30 years to attract and retain a student body with 27% of the student body on Pell Grants (and well more than that blue collar.) It has taken Amherst almost a decade to get to 17%. It costs money - lots of it - time and commitment, both in the admissions department, and the rest of the campus environment. Most colleges have pretty much concluded that they don’t want to expend it, as is their right. And it is no great loss: the prestige privates’ loss is UCLA’s, Berkeley’s, and the public honors colleges’ gain.</p>