I can think of a few, but right off top: most people won't be eligible, won't get in, or will be otherwise stipilated out after the fact. Secondly, this type of fund is typically a massive donation, which hypothetically equates to a massive tax write off for the donator. Thirdly (and admitted tinfoil-hattedly), this is gonna piss off a ton of unaffected Republicans made to believe this is like letting commies come right into their living rooms to fuck their wives while they watch.
I think the main reason is that they want to ensure the best students can attend, regardless of their current income. Successful alumni are more likely to contribute back to the university in the future.
I graduated from Vandy within the last decade and can attest that their financial aid program has been great for a while. There's no way we could have afforded it without their assistance and I was able to graduate with very minimal debt that I easily paid off.
Oh fantastic. Whenever I hear a really good thing like this, I immediately worry that it's like that college tuition reform bill republicans are pushing that is actually a thinly veiled attempt to begin racially tracking and matriculating students.
Yeah, that's great to hear about the Vanderbilt program, and valuable to hear about your experience there.
Oklahoma colleges are like this. They had some kind of tuition price freeze built into their state constitution so colleges couldn't let costs get out of control. BUT-- the law didn't say anything about fees, so schools just jacked those up like crazy.
Problem is that people who get scholarships often get tuition covered, but not fees. When I went to grad school I usually had about $10k per year not paid for. Add that to cost of living and summer classes (which weren't paid at all) I was spending about $20k per year even though I had a "full ride".
Just paid off my $150k in student loans this year.