can-o-corn posted:My understanding is that every student gets academic money the same as every other student, that is you get the same as every other student with the same performance academically as you. You can't just decide to give it to an athlete just because, but if that athlete qualifies he gets it. At one school my son would have gotten almost 100% academic money. Where he ended up he got 10% but had to maintain a certain GPA to keep that money each year. This seems fair to me. To single out a certain group seems unfair.
This is where private universities (and some public ones) have a huge advantage. They can give need-based aid to students who wouldn't even come close to qualifying otherwise. For example, I think Stanford's income number now is $125,000. Kids from households earning less than $125k/yr have 100% need based scholarships. Schools like Vandy and UNC have huge endowments they can work with.