We live in NYC, and I grew up in Boston. Financial aid is certainly given generously at all of the private schools that I’m familiar with here. But even with that, “economic diversity” is tough to achieve in some areas, no matter how hard the day schools try. They tend to have disproportionate representation at both ends of the spectrum, and not as much in the middle. I think that boarding schools do a better job of this, because they can draw from a larger geographic pool.