"A revealing new study on financial aid at public research universities could cast a nasty shadow over school administrations nationwide. The study, “Opportunity Adrift,” from the non-profit research group, The Education Trust, finds that public universities, rather than award financial aid primarily to poor and/or minority students who could not otherwise afford college, actually give inordinate amounts of aid to students from wealthier families who could afford school anyway (and could likely afford to attend more expensive private schools).Public universities, the study finds, have shifted their aid priorities from need-based aid to so-called “merit-based” financial aid. “So-called” because “merit” is defined in very narrow terms like performance on standardized tests and participation in advanced placement programs. That is, “merit” means attending a well-resourced school and being able to afford expensive SAT prep courses or tutors. Even then, though, merit-based aid is disproportionately denied to equally qualified poor and black or Hispanic students.� According to the study, the shift of priorities has taken place, to a large extent, at the level of individual school administrations, which decide what criteria are used for allocating financial aid."
