Merit Aid: Not Just for the Middle Class

By Stephen Burd. Supporters of “merit aid” often defend it as being a middle class benefit. When articles appear that are critical of non-need-based financial aid, they are typically greeted with responses such as this (taken from a forum on College Confidential):
I think that it is ridiculous to cut merit aid. The middle class will be in even more of a bind. The only reason I will be able to afford to go to a good school is if I get merit aid. I'm in the typical middle class FA situation- too "rich" to get FA but too poor to afford college.
Newly-released data by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) show that a student’s chances of receiving merit aid increases as his or her family’s income rises. In fact, students from families making more than $250,000 a year are more likely to receive merit aid than those making less than half of that. More...