US colleges give more financial aid to wealthy students: Study

The study conducted by the New America Foundation says that US colleges provide high-achieving applicants with more financial aid in order to promote the profile of their students.
 
According to the public policy institute's analysis of data from the US Department of Education, schools are competing for well-off students who can afford rising tuition fees, instead of helping students in need.
 
"A lot of them (colleges) go for the same students from the rich suburban schools," the foundation’s education policy analyst, Stephen Burd said.
 
The organization added that the current strategy does not take a student’s financial need into consideration.
 
For example, institutions may reason that it is more beneficial to give four USD 5,000 awards to four wealthy students instead of giving a low-income student USD 20,000 as financial aid.
 
"We've wanted as a country for the last 50 years or so to try to help lower-income students move themselves up the ladder of opportunity, and higher education has always been that kind of ladder. And so the idea that we may be closing these gates is very alarming,” Burd added.
 
Over the past decade, the cost of attending a four-year public institution in the US has increased by more than five percent each year.