This is not a morality play and ethics have nothing to do with one’s perception on the socio-economic demographics of undergraduate institutions. Those who can afford to go to the school of their choice, taking into account “fit” (academically, socially, and psychologically), generally go to the the perceived best school. If the “1%” are spending their money on RISD, Pratt, and MICA, they are doing so in large part based on a perception that these are the best schools. Those same patrons will quickly turn their back on any top school that loses its luster. This holds equally true for public colleges as schools such as UCLA, Michigan (the Stamps School), and the School of Visual Art & Design (University of South Carolina) which have no dearth of students from wealthier backgrounds. If you are finding a scarcity of “1-percenters” at VCU Arts, perhaps it is because the school does not generally hold the reputation of perennial elite undergraduate art schools. But it is not because the school is a public institution.