Some schools give automatic money based on plain vanilla GPA. These schools may be trying to boost there stats for ratings purposes or create a discount for a segment of kids. However, grade inflation is looked on VERY negatively in college admissions. A kid with a 3.8 GPA that is in the second quartile of his class reflects poorly on the competitiveness of the HS. This is why many HS are not releasing class ranks anymore. Too many kids with too high a GPA. That HS rep may not be what you think it is. It should be noted that strength of schedule is often viewed more critically than GPA.