I’ve seen college-offered summer programs for high school students do the same. Suddenly, the $3000 summer-intensive program is $4500, but acceptances comes with a $1500 scholarship. Some people truly think that they’re missing a great opportunity if they don’t accept and enroll.
the problem with some of these “trophies for everyone” scholarships is that you’ll see modest stats students wondering why they didn’t get a merit scholarship or asking how much they’ll get after applying to schools that give true merit scholarships (limited to their high-stats students).